Great Northern miss out on finals by percentage but take home third at country week after making history

Great Northern have come away from the Nutrien AG Solutions Country Football Championships with another third place finish, but made history in the tournament. The country week format had divisions of four teams where each team would play each other once in games that had two 20-minute halves. The Geraldton side ended the championships 2-1 and missed out on playing in the division one grand final by point differential. But they made history by beating South West, a feat no other team has achieved in almost a decade. Their first game on the Thursday kicked off at 2pm, when they faced off against Great Southern, dominating the match for a 7.2 (44) to 1.2 (8) win. The match was heavily one-sided as Great Northern didn’t give up a forward entry until late in the first half. After kicking a four-goal haul, Brigades’ Gemma Dix was awarded player of the match. Later that day, Geraldton went up against South West, who were the favourites — coming into this year, South West had never lost a single representative game since the championships began, nearly a decade ago. Great Northern came in to the game as the underdogs and let up an early score, but a goal from Brigades’ Tessa Daly put them back in and the half finished both tied at 1.2 (8) a piece going into the second. South West came out of the half-time break firing, scoring a goal in under a minute of play, but Great Northern managed to level the scores after a shot on goal by Chapman Valley’s Lexi Chapman. The Geraldton squad let through another goal and failed to capitalise on their opportunities, ending up down by three points with less then four minutes left until Daly kicked her second of the game, giving Great Northern the lead. Great Northern held on to close out the game with a 3.5 (23) to 3.2 (20) win, ending the nearly decade-long undefeated streak held by the South West. Vice-captain Taylah Broadhurst from Chapman Valley was named player of the match in the win. Hot off their victory going into day two, Great Northern had one more match to play on Friday before the finals began. They faced off against Kimberley who had been a strong side during the championships, and ended up being too good for Great Northern, who lost the battle 2.2 (14) to 5.7 (37). At the end of tournament matches, Kimberley, South West and Great Northern all finished tied with a 2-1 record, and Great Southern came fourth after going 0-3. However, Great Northern ended with a point differential of 16, putting them in third place, behinds Kimberley’s differential of 63 and South West’s 49. While only dropping one game and managing a win over South West, Great Northern missed out on playing in the grand final for a second year, instead facing off against Great Southern in a match for third place. The game looked one-sided as Great Northern came out and piled on the score, going up 52-0 at the end of the first half. Great Northern would go on to beat Great Southern 9.6 (60) to 1.1 (7) in the third place contest, with vice-captain Jasmine Johansen taking out best on ground in the bronze medal match. It will be the second year in a row that Great Northern finishes in third place, after their 2022 campaign where they again beat Great Southern in the third place match. Lucinda Rouse had three goals in the final game while Breeanna Hamlett, Selina Kiddle and Johansen had two each. At the end of the championship, Dix was named the best player of the tournament and was picked for the State team made up of the tournament’s best players, alongside Rovers’ Abby Green and Railways’ Johansen.