Lions and Centrals to meet again in qualifying final

THE Belmont Lions will play in its first Geelong & District Football League finals appearance in almost a decade when it meets Werribee Centrals at St Albans Reserve in tomorrow’s (Saturday, August 24) first qualifying final.

Lions co-coach Andy Walsgott said the club was buzzing, with Belmont’s senior football, A Grade netball, and women’s football sides taking part in finals action this weekend.

“It’s really exciting. We were figuring out during the early stages whether or not we’re just on a good running, but then we started stacking up well against some good sides and realised we’ve got a real good group here.

“We spoke about it pre-game last weekend, just touching on how far we’ve come, more than doubling our win total from last season.

“We’ll reflect on it a little bit more once the season is done, but we have bigger hopes in mind for this season.”

The last time Belmont and Werribee met was in Round 9, where the Centurions emerged with an 88-76 win at home.

After suffering two head knocks early on in 2024, Walsgott confirmed he would not return to the field for the remainder of the season, despite showing “promising” signs over the past few weeks.

“I’m done for the year. I thought I was coming good two or three weeks ago, and there was a glimmer of hope,” he said.

“Unfortunately, it’s taken a bit of decline as of late, just struggling with the concussion and headaches.

“I’m still healthy enough to coach, so I’m looking forward to playing that role for finals on the sideline.”

The Lions unexpectedly fell short against North Geelong, losing to Peter Riccardi’s side by 21 points last weekend.

Walsgott said his side was the lesser team on the day and praised the progress North Geelong had made in 2024, but knows his team will be ready ahead of tomorrow.

“Our first quarter against North was indicative of our play the past few weeks – a terrific first quarter, but then we kind of switched off. I don’t really know what happened in that one.

“They just beat us in the contest, but we’ve evened that up this week and we’ll be hungry again on Saturday.”

Aside from the loss of Lions favourite Josh Allen to a leg injury in early August and Brock Mahoney being in doubt due to shoulder soreness from an incident in Round 18, Belmont will go into its qualifying final with a healthy list.

The qualifying final begins at 2pm, with Thomson and Bannockburn to play in Sunday’s elimination final.