A SHATTERED Luke Gestier tried his best to rally the troops after Collingullie-Glenfield Park suffered a heart-breaking six-point grand final loss on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
It was a tough pill to swallow for the first-year captain-coach, who was playing in his first grand final and was struck down by injury.
The Demons were in it right until the end. They did well against the breeze in the first quarter and led at half-time.
They kept within two goals of the Crows in the all-important premiership quarter and were set to finish strongly with the breeze.
But Leeton-Whitton dominated most of the last term, and eventually, Collingullie-GP made their run, only to fall six points short with the ball inside their attacking 50 as the siren sounded.
“I’m a bit speechless but just disappointed. I couldn’t have asked for any more of an effort from the boys, it was fantastic,” Gestier said.
“It was very even and obviously the conditions aren’t great today. Crucial bits late in the term, they were able to set up a bit better than us and we just blazed away and wasted the footy.”
Gestier knew the game was there for the taking at three-quarter-time.
“For sure. I said to the boys we’re never going to get a better opportunity but we didn’t take the opportunity and that’s footy,” he said.
“Today we didn’t take it but 12 months down the track, who knows, we might take it then.”
The Demons started well with the first two goals of the game, but it was an uphill battle from there against a hungry Crows outfit.
Collingullie lost vice-captain Kal Sykes at the start of the third quarter to a yellow card, resulting from an all-in half-time melee.
Gestier injured his knee in the second quarter and played no further part after half-time. Steve Jolliffe was helped off in the third quarter with an ankle injury but returned later on.
They had plenty who tried hard. Matt Klemke gave it everything he had and was one of his team’s best, while older brother Jayden battled valiantly despite receiving close attention all day.
Matt Beckmans won a mountain of the footy, while Brad Aiken kicked a couple of goals and lifted his time on numerous occasions.
Justin Simmons proved he was worth bringing back from Queensland with a strong game on Crows coach Jade Hodge.
For Gestier, who was coming back off a knee reconstruction this year, he was devastated to be unable to complete the game.
He said he will get his knee looked at and most likely faces off-season surgery.
“I don’t know. It’s just frustrating,” he said.
“You make your first grand final and it takes one little incident and it’s no good. And you lose the thing. I’ll have to go and get a clean out or something.”
