Sport
26 August, 2025
Carisbrook survives a historic Talbot comeback by one point in finals classic
After being down by 63 points 10 minutes into the third quarter, an exhilarating comeback from Talbot fell agonisingly one point short, as Carisbrook found a way to hold on in a match which will go down as an instant classic.
The Hawks kicked 11 of the last 12 goals after scoring one major in the first half, putting themselves on the precipice of completing one of the best comebacks in MCDFNL history.
Nevertheless, the Redbacks managed to get over the line, taking them straight to the preliminary final, while the Hawks will have to defeat Navarre this weekend to extend their season.
“It was a tale of two halves really, both teams got their attacking flow going in each half,” Carisbrook senior coach Brandon Weatherson said.
“We planned pretty well, we have watched Talbot a few times this year and went after a lot of their new players to try and understand how they wanted to move the ball.
“We started the game really well, pressurised well and took our opportunities and Talbot did the same in the second half.
“It was great to have the Talbot Carisbrook rivalry relived again, it’s been quite a few years since we played each other in finals and we went head-to-head in probably one of the better finals there have been.”
What makes the final score even more astonishing is that the game looked to be in danger of a blowout by the end of the first quarter.
Carisbrook got off to a perfect start thanks to a well-taken snap shot from Todd Bryant, giving them their first goal inside a minute.
Following two Talbot behinds, the Redbacks proceeded to score 37 unanswered points, capped by three consecutive goals from Harry Whitty, to take a 41-point lead into quarter time.
It looked like the second quarter wouldn’t provide any respite for Talbot, as Carisbrook were on top to begin a hard-fought second quarter with the first five scores.
However, after kicking 7.1 in the first quarter, accuracy began to hurt the Redbacks, booting five straight behinds.
After 21 minutes of hard-nosed football, Jude McGuire finally kicked the first goal of the second quarter to give the Hawks a much-needed jolt.
However, Whitty would kick his fourth for the afternoon after the siren to give the Redbacks a 44-point buffer heading into half time.
Looking to finish the job after the main break, Carisbrook were dominant to start the third term, booting the first three goals through Nicholas Wright, Whitty and Tim Rinaldi.
Those kicks extended the margin to 63 points, with seemingly no way back for Talbot.
But then, seemingly out of nowhere, the Hawks burst into life.
It started gradually with leading goalscorer Jarrod Stephens finally finding some room away from Anden Lever to kick his first of the day from a set shot.
Five minutes later, Stephens delivered a beautiful kick to a leading Zac Cicchini to assist his first of the game which reignited Talbot’s belief.
After Cicchini’s major, the floodgates began to open for the Hawks, finishing the quarter with four consecutive goals to give themselves a chance down 28 points at the final change.
The Hawks needed to translate that third-quarter momentum into a strong start in the last term, and they did just that, winning the opening centre clearance, which Stephens converted into a goal with a quick snap shot.
Seven minutes later, Jamieson House, who had been brilliant all day for the Hawks, converted a set shot to bring the deficit to a very manageable 15 points.
Everything was going Talbot’s way until Angus McKinna seemingly delivered the dagger for Carisbrook with an outstanding goal from 55 meters from just inside the boundary to increase the Redbacks’ buffer to 20 points with 10 minutes to play.
Despite what it seemed, the game was far from over.
Talbot answered back with goals from Stephens and Charles Aitken to cut the margin to eight points and set some panic into the usually calm and collected Carisbrook.
The Hawks were bombarding their forward 50, but the Redbacks did just enough to keep them at bay until Stephens took a brilliant mark for Talbot 40 metres out in the pocket.
With a similar shot to McKinna’s potential dagger, Stephens made no mistake, kicking his fifth goal to bring the Hawks within a point.
Despite Stephens’ heroics, time ran out on the Hawks, allowing Carisbrook to take a somewhat ironic one-point win after their reserves won by the same margin in their final against Harcourt.
“To be honest we couldn’t get our hands on the football, that was the most frustrating thing,” Weatherson said.
“I think as the game went on, we became fumbly, we started to miss the targets we hit in the first half and put a lot of pressure on ourselves.
“As I said to the boys at three quarter time, we put ourselves in that position by what we did in the first half and we were the ones who were going to undo our good work.
“Hopefully we don’t find ourselves in that situation again.”
Without star ruckman Jackson Bowen, Brady Neill did a spectacular job filling Bowen’s role across the ground, named in the best players alongside Wright, Whitty, Leo Fitzgibbon, Thomas Gardam and Blake Matthews, who was electric in the first quarter.
Talbot named House, Lachlan Hind, McGuire, Aitken, Stephens and Alex Marshall as their better players.