He kicked the opening goal of Saturday’s Central West AFL grand final and played a role in the last, but Orange Tigers full forward Tim Barry didn’t care how the goals came.
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He was just glad they did.
Barry kicked four goals in the grand final, capping a remarkable season which he led the CWAFL goalkicking with 71 goals, an effort he’s expected to be on deck to back up in the black and golds’ flag defence next year.
Barry and his minor premiership-winning Tigers trailed by 27 points with a quarter to play and many at Bathurst’s George Park had a Bushrangers Rebels premiership pencilled in.
But Orange launched a remarkable comeback, sealed with an Andrew Henry goal with a tick over two minutes left on the clock. The ball spilled to him after Barry and Rebels backman Paul Long competed for possession at the top of the arc.
Barry said he maintained faith in his teammates to get the job done, despite the fact they’d trailed from virtually go to woah.
“We just knew our best footy was there, it was just a matter of grinding it out,” he said.
“We didn’t put our best foot forward for two-and-half quarters, but we knew it was going to be a slog, we just had to trust our process and keep chipping away.”
Despite ending up with the most goals on the ground, Barry said he wasn’t fit and firing at 100 per cent, which was compounded by less-than-ideal conditions and delivery.
“I probably had a bit of a stiff day, it wasn’t quite working for me, I was just happy to be part of it in the end,” he said.
“We know their running game is good, but we just had to keep committing in close. Some of those hits were big, we knew if we just kept that up right until the end then we would be a chance.
“We got some instructions from the coach not to put anyone back (after the last goal), so when they had that shot on goal it certainly made us pretty nervous.
“Three points, it’s too close for my liking. But it was a great contest, full credit to Bathurst as well, it was a hell of a fight.”