Northern Jets co-coach Sam Fisher believes their hard-fought win over Marrar on Saturday might yet be the game that saved their season.
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A big third quarter and a desire not to let down a club legend saw the Jets enjoy an important 10.5 (65) to 7.9 (51) victory at Ariah Park.
“We spoke a lot about it before the game and said, ‘This is our season on the line,’” Fisher said.
“We thought these two games were like finals games and after we lost to Coleambally (last week) then we thought if we lose this then there’s no hope of playing finals.”
With Barellan next week and then the bye in round nine, the Jets are hoping they’ll have four wins to show for the first half of the season.
“If we can knock Barellan off – and that’ll be tough, there’s no gimme games this year – but if we can tick that off, that’s 20 points,” Fisher said.
“(We) would have taken that at the start of the season.”
The Jets had their first good start of the year, kicking the only two goals of the first quarter, before Marrar took control to lead by two points at halftime.
But a fear of letting down a favourite son saw the Jets lift in Ben Prentice’s 300th game.
“He’s part of the soul of this club – he puts 110 percent in every game he plays,” Fisher said.
“He keeps playing well – he’s been massive for us. I couldn’t be happier for him to get a win on his 300th game.
“To get a win and to keep our season alive, that’s all he was looking for.
“It’s put a good spark in everyone and I think our side’s starting to realise the potential we’ve got.
“If we play four quarters of footy I think we can match it with anyone.”
The Jets senior players stood up including Brad Moye and Mark Kimball (three goals each) and Mitch Haddrill and Tim Gray.
With an ankle injury ending Josh Plozza’s day before halftime and Andrew Bonny leaving the field following a heavy knock in the last quarter, Gray took on ruck duties.
“We put him in the middle and he added a bit of spark and really lifted us,” Fisher said of the Canberra-based centre-half-forward.
“He played a really good game in the last quarter and nearly won the whole game on his own back, just with his work around the ground after the contest.”
The result takes some of the wind out of Marrar’s sails.
But the Bombers could breathe a sigh of relief over Brandon Sanbrook who was stretchered off after being knocked out in the last quarter.
Sanbrook was taken by ambulance to Wagga hospital for scans but was released five hours later after being given the all-clear.
