Lavington's shock win!
A win for the ages; it’s one of those phrases we hear thrown around willy-nilly in the sporting media.
But it was true in a literal sense for Lavington on Saturday when they defied the tipsters with a hugely impressive 9.6 (60) to 4.15 (39) victory away to Albury.
The win was iced by a late goal from 17-year-old Ryder Corrigan, making his senior debut for the Panthers, while few players made a bigger impact on the Sportsground than the evergreen Adam Butler, still going strong at 42.
“It’s always good to come down here and get a win,” Butler reflected.
“They’ve been a strong team for a very long time and they’re still strong so you take these wins when you can get them down here, that’s for sure.
“We didn’t start the season the way we wanted so we wanted to defend and do the one-percenters and get the job done that way.
“We wanted to stop their run because that’s where they really cut you up, if you let them get out.
“We were pretty confident that we had a team which could get some big wins and I think that’s just proven, it’s given us a bit of belief that we can go out there now and get the job done.”
Corrigan may be rubbing shoulders with the region’s best young prospects in the Murray Bushrangers side but nothing in Coates League footy quite compares to toppling an OMFNL powerhouse on their own patch.
“It feels amazing,” Corrigan beamed. “When I went back to kick that goal, late in the game, it had to go in and it did.
“Tingles running through your body… it doesn’t get any better.
“We trained hard during the week and we really dug deep. When they bounced back and hit us a couple of times, we stood up, we didn’t drop our heads and we fought back.
“It’s a great culture at Lavi so I love coming back and training with the boys. It’s unbelievable, we’ve just got so many good fellas in there and it’s good fun.”
Even the vast experience of 15 years in the AFL system did little to control the heart rate of Lavington coach Adam Schneider in the dying stages at Albury.
“I was off my head, I was hopeless,” Schneider laughed. “I probably yelled a bit too much but that emotion is all part of it.
“To see the Lavi supporters, the parents and the families, everyone who was here to watch us, how ecstatic they were, that was probably the best thing about it.
“I’m so happy for the players, proud of their efforts because they never gave up.
“If you’re off a little bit in this comp, you can easily get found out. We played really good and Albury might have been off a little bit but I think our pressure really got us in the game and gave us a chance.
“The belief the players will get from this is huge.”
