For every fairytale that finals football produces, there is an equal number of stories that end in heartache.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Despite a valiant effort, Moama’s dream of playing in a grand final at home was snuffed out at the weekend.
The Pies were overrun by reigning premier Mulwala to fall 7.8 (50) to 8.9 (57), the preliminary final the stumbling block for a second consecutive year.
Just as they had done in each of the two previous finals, the Magpies were ferocious from the start, putting the first two goals on the board and applying immense pressure.
Jack Sutherland kicked Mulwala’s first, but it was all Moama for the remainder of the term, with captain Jack Russell playing a hand in just about everything.
Jobe Shanahan was lively too, first sending a kick to the top of the square which Tom Sheldon converted for goal, before reeling in a trademark grab and kicking truly to give Moama a 16-point lead at the first break.
The Lions drew first blood in the second, pulling the margin in to 10 points, but Moama hit back through a Callum Doyle snap after a nice evasive move.
The Magpies were clearly the quicker side and used that pace on the outside at every opportunity they could, before trapping the ball inside the attacking half for the majority of the term.
Yet the dominance yielded just 1.5 for the quarter, a poor return despite extending the margin out to 20 points at half-time.
The intensity rose to a new level in the third term, with Mulwala drawing level around the ground and showing flashes of dangerous potential.
The crowd could feel the momentum shifting as the Lions brought the deficit back to 12 early in the quarter, before drawing within one straight kick after 15 minutes.
Moama’s defence was dealing with the onslaught relatively well, but the Lions continued to enter the forward 50 frequently, bringing the margin inside six points for the first time since early in the opening term.
Nick Pavlou made the most of the Magpies’ few opportunities down the other end, somehow finding room to snap a major from a heavily crowded goal square to restore a 10-point lead to Moama at the final break.
Mulwala had the ascendancy going into the final quarter and things were made worse for the Pies as Kyal Atkinson and Tom Sheldon were helped from the ground only a few minutes into the term after colliding.
Neither team could find space with the ball, with repeat stoppages forcing a stalemate early, before the Pies looked to have found a settling goal through a Lachie Hogan volley in mid-air on the goal line, only for it to be ruled touched.
The Lions were beginning to get on top at the contest, using the ball well to find Jackson Meade virtually uncontested 30m from goal. His major cut the margin to five points.
The ball seemed to live inside Mulwala’s attacking arc and may well have sailed through the goals many times if not for Fraser Verhey, who stood up numerous times to take possession of a disputed ball for the Pies.
Inevitably after so many attempts, Mulwala found the middle of the big sticks through Sean Robinson, giving the Lions a one-point lead for the first time all afternoon, 13-and-a-half minutes into the last quarter.
Players from each side flung themselves at the ball with no regard for their own safety in the ensuing minutes, with the game still far from decided despite less than 10 minutes remaining on the clock.
Mulwala looked to have secured the win as it found another goal to go up by seven points with 19 minutes gone.
But the theatre of the finals demanded a star, and Dougal McKindlay obliged.
With 23 minutes gone, the Pies ruckman took a massive contested mark above the pack, before launching a monstrous drop punt from 50m to pull the margin back to a single point.
There was a faint pulse for the Magpies, who led the game for all but the final 10 minutes, yet it wasn’t to be.
The Lions kicked a goal on the siren, consigning Moama to a shattering loss.
It was a sombre mood in the Pies’ rooms following the game, with coach Sam Sheldon understandably devastated with the result.
“We scored 1.5 in the second quarter, we just didn’t captalise,” he said.
“If scoreboard pressure is not there, it always gives the opposition a bit of hope and they’re a quality outfit.”
Exploiting Mulwala on the outside was not by chance, according to Sheldon, with the Pies going into the game with a clear plan that they executed well.
However, their lack of finishing in front of goal let them down.
“We obviously watched Congupna pretty close last week when they switched the ball. Mulwala don’t spread very well,” Sheldon said.
“They’re a competitive beast of a side in tight, but we saw a bit of a chance there — hopefully if we spread the ball fast and moved it quickly, we could get them.
“It was working, but we just didn’t capitalise.
“And as I said, if you don’t kick the goals and put that scoreboard pressure on, it’s hard to win finals.”
While the result may not have gone his side’s way, Sheldon remained upbeat about the season as a whole, heaping praise on his players for the year they had.
“Where the club has been and where I think we’re going is pretty exciting,” he said.
“That’s two prelims in a row, on the back of a pretty inexperienced side and a few older heads, so if we can even that up a bit, those kids are going to be that much better for it.
“I couldn’t be prouder of the boys, it’s been a massive year.
“We’ve had a heap of injuries — last year we played 42 blokes in the ones, this year probably wouldn’t be too different.
“We’ve got a lot of lads that play the role really well and really buy in to what we are trying to do, and we were seven points off playing in a grand final, so we are close.”