Old Collegians upset South Rovers to secure second win of season

You could tell how much the win over South Rovers meant to the players, coaching staff and supporters when they belted out the song after the game.

It sent shivers down your spine seeing all the smiling faces and hearing the laughs.

It was like the Warriors had won a final.

And to beat a formidable outfit like the Lions would feel like winning a final for a young, developing team.

That it was the Warriors' past players and sponsors day just added to the atmosphere with a big and boisterous crowd at Davidson Oval.

READ MORE:

As captain Eli Barker said "you feel like you've got nineteen men on the field with that crowd roaring for you, it was great".

Coach Nick Sheehan was proud of the way his team went about its 12.5 (77) to 8.17 (65) triumph.

"It's good, it's been a hard journey, but the boys are just sticking together and getting better and better each week - we have our ups and downs," he said.

"That was just character building the way they grinded it out for four quarters.

"The last three weeks we've been very competitive in the starts but we've just been getting out of it then.

"We worked on building for four quarters and that intensity and effort.

"And that came through today, we got challenged at times, especially in that third quarter, they came really hard."

Sheehan said Bailey Brooks sustained the Warriors' only injury.

"He got a bit of head knock and a bit of concussion so we've just got to keep an eye on that," he said.

South Rovers mentor Adam Matheson said Old Collegians deserved to win.

"We kicked with the breeze and they jumped out, they were five goals to one at quarter time," he said.

"They were just up and about, they started the game much better than us.

"Full credit to them, they've got a lot of young kids - their tails were up early."

The Lions have had a solid start to the season with competitive performances against top teams Nirranda, Kolora-Noorat and Panmure.

As Matheson said "we thought we were travelling along okay but got a pretty big wake up call today".

The Lions coach said his troops tried to take on the tackler too often. He'll be encouraging them to pass to their first option.

Ball-use and conversion up forward are other aspects South Rovers will work on.

Have you signed up to The Standard's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in the south-west.