Zanetti makes shock return to help Magpies cause prelim final boilover against Tigers

Spurred on by the inclusion of star big man Shayne Zanetti, Denmark-Walpole caused the biggest upset of the season as they ended Railways’ season in a wet and windy preliminary final on Sunday to secure their first grand final berth in eight years. The Magpies last won the Great Southern Football League premiership in 2010 and their most recent appearance on grand final day was in 2012, but they will get another chance at the ultimate success after a brilliant 18-point win over the Tigers. Zanetti’s return from a serious ankle injury, which was initially feared would end his season, was a major boost for the Magpies, and co-captain Alec Haskins played despite injuring his hamstring in last week’s heavy defeat by the Tigers. That pair were vital in the Magpies’ remarkable 95-point turnaround, having been thumped eight days earlier by the same opponent. The visitors started strongly with three first-quarter goals, two from the boot of Zanetti, despite kicking to the end not favoured by the wind and their second quarter essentially won the game. Dionne Woods conjured two clever goals in the second term which were separated by a major to Tigers midfielder Joel Want, but the Magpies had all the momentum at the long break after Luke Galantino’s goal after the half-time siren stretched the margin to a game-high 29 points. From there, the Magpies had to survive a strong third-quarter fightback from the Tigers before they kicked three goals to one in the final term to seal a memorable 9.8 (62) to 6.8 (44) victory. Magpies co-coach Simon Barker praised his side for their turnaround after getting beaten by a combined total of 149 points in the last two rounds of the regular season. “I’m super proud of everyone — they all played their role,” Barker said. “Everyone grew a leg once they knew Shayne was playing. “We got belted in the last two weeks but it’s really exciting to get through and there has been a lot of hard work put in. “It has been the longest, shortest season ever and when they were talking about getting a competition running this year we were one of the teams that were leaning towards opting out of it and not playing.” Zanetti took a strong mark and kicked a tough goal from the pocket to open the scoring and it set the tone for his Magpies. After their poor first half in the slippery conditions the Tigers responded in the third term with four unanswered goals. Impressive forward Cyrus Upson, with two opportunistic snaps over his shoulder, helped get the margin back to three points. The first clearance of the fourth term came through Tigers ruckman Shane Braimbridge but they could only manage a behind and that would be as close as the Tigers got as Jayden Woods made it eight points and then his second goal of the final stanza made it tough for the home side. Former Tiger Coen Marwick put the nail in the coffin with the final goal of the game, sparkling jubilation for the Magpies as they claimed the preliminary final and a spot in this Saturday’s decider. Jaden Guidi produced his best game of the season and his influence was well supported by Zanetti and rebounding defender Ash Smith. Jayden Woods also bobbed up in crucial moments. Jackson Whooley held Tiger Matt Palfrey goalless and the home side were simply unable recover from their slow start. Upson was lively all day while captain Bodhi Stubber played well in defence and was well supported by tough wingman Dylan Schorer and Braimbridge, while defender Craig Frost played his 100th game. Tigers coach Troy Leo said his team were well beaten across the board. “Six goals down at half-time in those conditions, it is tough to come back from that,” he said. “They were better than us for three of the four quarters and we simply weren’t good enough today.”