COLLINGULLIE-Glenfield Park confirmed their status as the sleeping giant of the Riverina League finals race with a 69-point victory over Griffith on Sunday.
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The Swans returned to finals for the first time in 10 years but were quickly shown the door by a quality Demons outfit, who took out the elimination final 21.12 (138) to 10.9 (69) at Ganmain Sportsground.
Teenage sensation Harry Perryman led the charge with a five-goal performance as Collingullie-GP sounded a warning to their finals competitors.
Griffith tried their hardest to stick with the Demons early.
Three late goals in the opening term gave Collingullie a 21-point lead at quarter-time, and they could only stretch the margin to 27 by the main break.
From there it opened up, as the Demons kicked the first four goals of the third term and away they went.
The Demons’ win sets up a mouthwatering first semi-final showdown with arch-rival Mangoplah-Cookardinia United-Eastlakes next Sunday.
Collingullie-GP coach Brett Lenon was pleased with the Demons’ opening finals performance.
“It was a really good win,” Lenon said.
“We were expecting a hard and tough contest, and especially in the first half from Griffith, they really jammed it into us and kept coming at us.
“We’ve got stuff to work on, we made a lot of skill errors without pressure today, which is something we’ll work on during the week but across the board, our effort was good, our pressure was good and things that we could control were pretty good most of the day.”
After coming from fifth to win last year’s premiership, talk of another grand final appearance quickly spread across Ganmain Sportsground after the final siren.
With much expectation, given their current form of seven straight wins, from outside the group, Lenon said his players were not getting ahead of themselves.
“This is where these boys are so good, they’re pretty professional,” he said.
“They know it’s a day-by-day, week-by-week thing.
“We’re enjoying each other’s company, we don’t look any further ahead then training on Tuesday night...we don’t look too far ahead.
“They’re professional, and they’re pretty well grounded in terms of not looking too far into the future.”
Perryman was the icing on top of the cake with his five-goal performance. Lachie Moore, Nick Kennedy and Jayden Klemke shone with big games through the midfield, while the Demons’ defence was rock solid.
The only disappointing news was a shoulder injury to Matt Klemke. He will get scans early in the week but the Demons hope he can get up for Sunday’s clash with MCUE.
For Griffith, Mick Duncan played like a man who had waited 10 years for finals. He led the charge through the midfield.
Jacob Conlan was always dangerous up forward and finished with four goals.
Nathan Richards again highlighted his potential with a strong display in the ruck, while Guy Orton and Jordan Iudica were more than serviceable.