“Words can’t describe it.”
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Three days on from the Orange Tigers’ Central West AFL grand final win – a three-point classic – Tigers defender Dan Sadler still can’t put the win into words.
The grand final marked his final game in the yellow and black and also one of his best, which was acknowledged with the man-of-the-match award.
Sadler said he “couldn’t wish” for a better send-off than the come-from-behind victory, where the Tigers came from 27 points down at three-quarter-time to edge in front in the final minutes.
“We did it in style but we left it to the last minute,” he said.
I was saying last week 2013 was the best grand final I’d been a part of, but this is the best one now.
- Dan Sadler
Despite the massive three-quarter-time margin, Sadler said he thought the Tigers were still a chance kicking to the northern end of the ground, where most of the game’s scoring had been done.
He was nervous after a few early misses, but once the Tigers put their kicking boots on and roosted home four in the final 10 minutes, he felt the side was a chance to do the impossible.
However, with five minutes to go Sadler said he was cramping badly, and nearly had the fairytale comeback taken from him after a holding the ball free kick lead to a shot on goal for the Rebels.
“When they paid that free kick against Jacko (Jaxon Mumme), I just thought ‘this is not happening’, Sadler said.
However, to his relief, the shot on goal missed.
Sadler’s game was massive for the Tigers, taking plenty of intercept marks in defence.
Initially the plan was to keep him in the backline to help quell the Bushrangers’ strong forward line, but during the third quarter, Sadler had other ideas.
“I made the call to to go into the midfield, I could see they were getting knocked about and I threw my body about and helped a little bit,” he said.
The switch into the midfield helped turn the momentum from the Bushrangers winning clearances easily to turning them into even more hard-fought contests, before returning the backline in the final quarter.
He found himself with ball in hand with 30 seconds to go, too – kicking it long to clear the defensive 50 before running up the field, with half an eye on the ball and half an eye on the clock, watching it count down to zero.
“I was saying last week 2013 was the best grand final I’d been a part of, but this is the best one now,” Sadler said. “It’s the best way to win a grand final.”
Sadler wasn’t expecting the accolades from the umpires – who he also said had a “really good job” with the whistles.
“I’m not sure if it was some sort of send-off award,” he said laughing.
“I don’t go out there to win best on ground awards, I just played the game I played – I thought there were other players like Lucas (Kelly) or Jaxon (Mumme) who could have won it.
“Everyone just did their job.”
Sadler was full of praise for the whole side, but in particular for now premiership-winning coach Dale Hunter and flag-winning skipper Luke Thorley for “backing me in” for the season.
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