TOM HAYES
FOOTBALL
NORTH GIPPSLAND By TOM HAYES IT’S not every day you get to witness someone kick their 100th goal for the season. My immediate thoughts sprint to Lance ‘Buddy’ Franklin kicking his 100th goal of the 2008 season while playing for Hawthorn against Carlton. The same night Brendan Fevola was left stranded on 99 goals up the other end, imagine two ground invasions. But recently, in the North Gippsland Football-Netball League, it happened, and to extenuate the occasion, it came off the back of an 11 goal haul, in the thirds. Rosedale’s Lachlan Speairs entered the record books, scoring more than 100 goals in a home-and-away season. In Rosedale’s Round 17 clash against Cowwarr, Speairs started the game on 89 goals, but thanks to two double-digit hauls throughout the season, reaching a ton wasn’t out of the question. Maybe you’d assume it was considering he only had four to three quarter time against Cowwarr, seven away from the magical triple digits. “I only had four at three quarter time, so I didn’t have too much of an expectation,” Speairs recalled. “I think I might’ve got three or four in the first four or five minutes (of the last quarter), kept playing, got a couple more, kicked a few points so I thought I might’ve blown it.” With only a couple of minutes left on the clock, Speairs took a floating grab before swiftly playing on into an open goal for his 11th of the day. Promptly, teammates both on and off the field swamped the youngster, with fans joining in on the act too. “I was fortunate enough to get there, definitely got set a few times by my teammates,” Speairs said. “I reckon there was probably only two or three minutes left by the time I got the last one.” Rosedale’s thirds just locked up second place on the ladder, despite a loss to Sale City in the final round. Speairs added another three to his tally, finishing the home-and-away season on 103 majors. Others have gotten close to 100 in the thirds in recent times, but none were able to crack the ton. TTU’s Riley Denovan was just nine goals short this season, stranded on 91, the closest someone has gotten without kicking 100 lately. Churchill’s Aidyn Sheers kicked 71 in 2019, Dylan De Hommel kicked 70 for Glengarry in 2015, while Jack Heiser of Glengarry kicked 77 in 2010, then 87 in 2011. Aside from his individual accomplishments, Speairs is still focussed on the Holy Grail that is a premiership. “We’ve still got the final upcoming, which is the most important thing,” Speairs said. “I’d take a premiership any day over anything I can achieve personally.” The competitive nature of NGFNL’s thirds is one to take note of, six teams were in the hunt, which is now five after TTU missed out by a game – despite having the fourth best percentage in the league. Second-placed Rosedale were beaten by fourth-placed Sale City to the tune of 59 points in the last round, so truly anything is possible. “It proves how close it is from first to sixth,” Speairs said. “It shows we’ve gotta keep working hard and put ourselves into a prelim or a Grand Final and anything can happen.” Last year, Speairs played thirds despite being a year younger, and is now competing at the proper age for a bottom-aged thirds player. Last year he managed 27 goals before an unfortunate injury soured his season, yet he was able to get fit before winning a flag with Rosedale that year. “I broke my arm probably five or six rounds into the year, I missed obviously a fair chunk of footy, but I think just being around the group for that extra year … and be more involved in the game keeps you engaged,” Speairs said. Speairs was given a taste of open-age footy this year, being promoted to the seniors for their Round 16 clash against Gormandale. Not only that, Speairs played the thirds game beforehand too, kicking 15 goals. He entered the senior game with limited rest, where he kicked his first senior goal and won his first senior game. “I was grateful to have the chance and give it a crack,” he said. “It was definitely faster-paced, your decisions have to be much quicker.” “All the boys got around me and we got the win as well so that made it even better.” Speairs hopes to continue to develop his game as he gets older, and as he enters next year as a top-aged thirds player, he hopes to get more chances in the open-age game. “If I put in some good work, I’d like to get stronger and hold my own at the open-age level,” Speairs said. “Hopefully going forward I can get that chance and see what I can do. “I’m very happy playing at Rosedale and that’s where I’d like to play my senior footy.”
