The Goulburn Geckos enjoyed a stellar end to the 2018 season. Having won only three of their first six encounters for the year, the Geckos went on a hot streak that included 13 wins and only two losses. But that run was stopped abruptly in Saturday’s grand final.
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Goulburn faced off in the ultimate match of the season against Wests, who they had played three times in the regular season and beaten twice.
Coach Todd Devlin expressed in an interview with the Post the week prior to the Grand Final that the Geckos were confident and said that “it’ll probably come down to which team is able to take their chances.”
If only Devlin knew then how right he would be. The match became an affair of opportunities, both taken and missed, and the 2-0 scoreline in favour of Wests did not tell the full story of the match.
Goulburn controlled the ball for much of the game. From the beginning, the Geckos controlled field position and dominated possession.
However, Wests put the Geckos under immense pressure at every turn, and no Goulburn player could comfortably collect the ball without immediately defending against a challenge from their opponents.
Similarly, Wests’ ‘D’ proved to be impenetrable. Goulburn had constant opportunities on goal, particularly in the second half, but Wests’ defenders and goalkeeper deflected every shot which came their way.
The Geckos could not muster up a similar resoluteness in their defence. Wests took the lead with a goal roughly 20 minutes into the first half, and maintained that lead for most of the match.
As the game progressed, Goulburn became more aggressive and pushed more of its players up the field, which later resulted in Wests’ second goal when the Geckos could not retreat in time to prevent a simple run up the field from their opponents.
Despite a number of attempts and domination of their attacking half, Goulburn could not find the back of the net before the final buzzer rang.
Geckos captain Aaron Kershaw was graceful in his post-match speech, and said that it had been a “wonderful year” for Goulburn.
“We’re a tight group and I have a lot of respect for every single one of you guys.
“We’re very lucky [to be in a position to play finals].”
Kershaw continued in his speech to acknowledge Wests’ longstanding quality and said that they deserved the victory.
“You guys have been thereabouts for a long time, and it’s good to finally see you guys get that trophy, so congratulations,” he said.
The support of the local fans, Kershaw added, was key to the Geckos’ success throughout the year, and he thanked them for travelling to Canberra one last time in 2018.
