After 21 weeks and 18 games, it all came down to the last 30 minutes of the last match of the season. A victory would mean a top five finish, a loss would potentially dump the team from the top 10 and out of the finals.
It was a beautiful late Winter's day at Williamstown Oval on Saturday. The park extends out onto the bay and so the field is surrounded on three sides by water. Large cargo ships, sailing boats and paragliders floated past blissfully unaware. Only a curious pelican that circled the oval a few times seem interested in the epic suburban football drama unfolding below.
It started off bad for Frankston. Williamstown kicked two goals in the first two minutes. The Dolphins did well (or were lucky) to keep within range of the Seagulls for the rest of the first quarter, with the locals ahead of the visitors 25 to 15 at the break.
But it was a case of magical twos as Frankston kicked 2 quick goals in the first 2 minutes of the 2nd quarter. This put the Fins in front for the first time. The Willies then answered with two goals of their own. It was a close match!
There was a very large contingent of Frankston supporters present. The largest I've seen at an away match (technically not true, Frankston sometimes play away games at home due to VFL scheduling). We didn't out-number the locals but it was not far off. Part of me was like "please leave a good impression, please leave a good impression!"
As the game unfolded, Williamstown seemed a little bit faster and a little bit taller. Frankston's teamwork was holding but the locals were grinding out small wins.
But two fast goals at 20m by the Dollies put the scores back nearly level and both teams suddenly perked up and when the siren went for the end of the 2nd quarter, the match was almost tied with Frankston just one point ahead.
After the longest half time break in history, play resumed. A snap goal by Fston was very much appreciated.
But then both teams stalled out a bit. The Dolphins could not get it out of the middle but the Seagulls struggled to score against the Fin's defence.
Williamstown put the pressure on mid third to the visible frustration of the Fston players (I saw one throw a water bottle on the ground after another Seagull goal).
It took until about 20m into the 3rd for the dam to break, the constant attacks by the Gulls and loose kicking by Frankston finally saw us punished, with the equaliser by the Townies.
Seagulls continued to pressure and the Dollies defence, which had done admirably with little support from the mid-field, finally started to buckle. The end of the 3rd quarter couldn't come soon enough as the Gulls found some beautiful form and kicked three more very late goals to make it 74 to 55 and turn an OK quarter in a bad one.
The final quarter began, possibly the most important 30 minutes of the season since round 1, and an unfortunate free in front of the Towners' goal in the first 90 seconds was a bad omen.
A goal off another free at 9m felt like the first nail in the coffin, a gap at almost 40 points with only 20 minutes to play? The Pod (Frankston supporters when travelling) were alternating between silence and cries of "just kick it!". It was inglorious.
Frankston were now wilting. The inconsistencies in their gameplay they exhibited during the first half were now compounded by apparent tiredness. It was no longer a question of victory but what percentage the team could salvage to stay in the top 10. A goal at 20m showed the boys were still capable. In fact, the final two goals by Frankston (at 20m by Lachlan Reidy and 24m by Corey Ellison) turned out to be incredibly valuable as I'll mention below.
The final score was 16-14-110 to 10-8-68... an ignominious final quarter after a stellar season and an intense first half.
Now with the clump of teams in the middle of the VFL ladder, Frankston's fate in the finals depended on the other teams playing the same weekend... and they all went the wrong way for us.
Frankston dropped to 8th to 9th and then to 10th and seemed heading for the door... but Coburg was sitting on the same number of season wins as us, so it came down to percentages (the points a team kicked during the entire season vs the points kicked against it).
In this regard, the two goals by Reidy and Ellison in the last few minutes of the last match made all the difference. Frankston, having kicked 1554 points over the 21 weeks, finishes the season above Coburg by a mere 6 points. Clinging to 10th position, we live to fight another day!
And that day is THIS Saturday, with our sudden death wildcard match against 7th place finisher, the Sydney Swans, in Sydney at 11.05am. Live on the AFL website.
Frankston has a pretty good record this season for its interstate games and Sydney is in a bit of disarray this week, so take from that what you will! We can win this.