Sport
29 August, 2025
Football Semi Final Preview: Talbot v Navarre
In the second of two tantalising semi-finals, Talbot will look to recover from their one-point loss to Carisbrook against the late-surging Navarre.
The Hawks and the Grasshoppers are the only teams in MCDFNL history to complete a four-peat, with Talbot’s occurring from 1995-98 and Navarre matching that accomplishment from 2013-16.
While sustained finals success has somewhat eluded both sides since those trophy-filled peaks, they are both confident that 2025 will begin a change to that notion.
When your team is down by over 10 goals midway through the third quarter, there usually aren’t many positives to take away from that match. However, after the Hawks were fingertips away from coming all the way back against Carisbrook, it’s given senior coach David Connell plenty to ponder.
“It’s such a difficult one to review because we were so poor in the first 60 minutes and then so good in the last 40,” he said.
“I thought at quarter time we were getting beaten everywhere to be honest — once the pressure was sort of off and we were 10 goals down, it was like we got freed up in the mind.
“When we kicked the first couple, I thought we were a small chance, then they kicked one to go back to 20 points, and from that point I thought it was going to snuff out, but then we just kept coming.
“I’m super proud of the group to come back from 63 points down at the 10-minute mark of the third to get rolled by a point, as I said to them after the game it would have been so easy for them to go it’s not our day.”
After a rollercoaster of emotions in their qualifying final, Connell hopes the Hawks can refocus this weekend and showcase the dominance they displayed in the home and away season.
“At the end of the day, we played 17 games and won 14 of them, and Carisbrook is a very good side and we lost by a point,” he said.
“I’m also a really big believer that you don’t lose, you learn. We will definitely need to take some growth and some learnings from what happened in the first 60 minutes just to ensure we don’t put ourselves in that position again.
“We started the finals series needing to win two games to make it to a grand final, and we still need to win two games, so we haven’t taken a step back, we just haven’t taken a step forward.”
The Hawks can take some confidence from their home and away season form over the Grasshoppers, winning both encounters by an average margin of 71 points.
However, Navarre has improved dramatically near the end of the season, exemplified by their elimination final win over Dunolly on Sunday. After the exhilaration of a finals triumph, Navarre senior coach Kyle Hendy said he encourages his team not to be afraid of the bigger stage and seize their chance.
“(Sunday) was like a normal finals game with a fair bit of pressure on the football until everyone sort of settled down,” he said.
“Once everyone from our side had settled down, we used the football really well and made the right decisions with it.
“We just need to be more willing to back ourselves, take the riskier options, and have faith in our skills and our abilities to be able to take the game on.”