Round 13 Match Report
Round 13, Saturday 25 July 2026
Old Geelong FC vs Old Melburnians FC at Como Park, South Yarra
1st quarter: OMFC 4.2.26 OGFC 1.1.7
2nd quarter: OMFC 5.5.35 OGFC 5.6.36
3rd quarter OMFC 6.6.42 OGFC 11.9.75
4th quarter: OMFC 14.7.91 OGFC 13.10.88
Goals: Ned Nichols (3), Sam Connock (2), Hugo Dale (2), Henry Nicholls (2), Ollie Tyrer (2), Mac Anderson (1), Lachie Haysman (1), Will Preston (1)
Best players: Thomas Spargo, Ned Nichols, Wilbur Brown, Lachie Templeton, Miles Tyrer, Henry Nicholls
Team: Jeremy a’Beckett (26), Mac Anderson (76), Spencer Anderson (4), Wilbur Brown (14), Louis Bunting (19), Sam Connock (87), Harry Cooper (23), Hugo Dale (15), George Derham (29), Lachie Haysman (9), Hugo Hines (22), Max Jane (64), Freddie McIntyre (24), Henry Nicholls (25), Ned Nichols (3), Will Preston (11), Sam Seccull (28), Jack Spargo (2), Tom Spargo (1, Captain), Lachie Templeton (16), Miles Tyrer (17), Ollie Tyrer (32).
Match Report by Lurch
Lucas Cossettini, Louis Dalgleish, James Venus and Henry Yuen-Williamson were replaced by Wilbur Brown, Sam Connock, Max Jane and Will Preston.
Apart from 0.6mm of rain late in the morning and the briefest of sprinkles during the game it was a dry day. The ground was a bit soft but slippery with mostly brown grass a mere centimetre high and – unusually - pairs of muddy cricket pitches to avoid at each end. The game time temperature ranged from 14-15 (said to feel like 11-13) degrees with west-southwesterlies becoming south-westerlies and later west-north-westerlies of 6-17km/h, decreasing during the game. The gusts of 9-37km/h did not have a noticeable effect on the game.
The game was played under threatening grey skies. Como Park runs east-west with the OMs kicking to the west in the first quarter against the strongest winds of the day. Although Old Geelong won at the first chuck up it was the OMs that struck first with Ollie Tyrer grabbing the footy from a goal square stoppage and snapping a goal after three minutes’ play. Play went between the arcs with the OMs’s defence only conceding a behind. Following his six goals last week, Jack Spargo looked set to continue that form with a free kick about 30 metres out from the northwest, but he shanked the kick. Defender and Captain Tom Spargo crept forward, intercepted a Geelong defensive kick, hit up Hugo Dale, and Dale handballed over the top to Mac Anderson, who goaled in play at the 14-minute mark.
From the midfield the OMs kicked to Will Preston, who received a free for an over-the-shoulder tackle and goaled from about 20 metres out, directly in front. It was 1-19 at the 16-minute mark. Geelong rushed an OM attempt, but Hugo Dale took a good mark despite an Ogger coming in late and bowling him over. Dale’s long set shot from the southwest gave the OMs a 1-26 lead after 23 minutes. It took Geelong until the 26-minute mark to score its first goal with the siren sounding a minute later.
It was a very good start by the OMs against a spirited Old Geelong side, but success was costly, with spearhead Jack Spargo gone for the day with a dislocated finger that couldn’t be rectified at the ground.
The Oggers went hard at the start of the second quarter with multiple attempts, some of which the OMs rushed, and a missed set shot from about 20 metres, directly in front. At the six-minute mark they broke through to close the gap to 16-26. Ned Nichols took a brilliant mark then beat multiple opponents on the southern wing, hitting up Lachie Haysman in the southeast, and he drilled a nice long set shot. Wilbur Brown’s handball gave Miles Tyrer a snap from the northeast that hit the northern goal post. Ned also snapped and missed. A long goalless period followed until Geelong broke through at the 22-minute mark with another three minutes later. It clearly had the momentum and goaled two minutes after its last. At the siren it was Geelong that led by a point as the OMs only managed a solitary goal. Their good start in the first quarter had been wiped out as they stopped running and missed opportunities. The OMs also lost Spencer Anderson – among last week’s best players – to injury in the quarter and only had one fit player on the bench heading into the second half.
Geelong continued its second quarter momentum into the third quarter, goaling after two minutes with another two minutes later to give it a 48-35 lead. The OMs kicked out of the midfield to give Henry Nicholls a set shot from directly in front to make it 48-41 at the five-minute mark. The OMs then bounced through a behind before the Oggers took charge with goals at the nine, 20 and 22 and 29-minute marks to end the 31-minute quarter with a 75-42 lead. The lights came on late in the quarter as conditions became quite dull.
At three-quarter time Coach James Byrne called for a steady consistent effort to chip away at the deficit. It was not the first time a coach has made such a call, but the listless OMs had shown no signs since the first quarter of having the ability to answer it. They had managed a solitary goal in each of the intervening quarters and needed six unanswered goals to win. Geelong had a full bench versus a lone fit OM.
It came as no surprise that Geelong kicked the first goal of the last quarter inside 24 seconds to put the result beyond all doubt with an 81-42 lead. The OMs now needed a mere seven goals without an Ogger goaling – more than they’d kicked all game. What happened next was monumental, astonishing, inexplicable – and absolutely bloody thrilling….
Several OMs combined well with Henry Nicholls kicking to Ollie Tyrer in the southeast pocket and he drilled his set shot at the two-minute mark. In defence Sam Seccull read the incoming ball like 96-point font, marking it and sending it out to Wilbur Brown and on through Henry Nicholls to Ned, who ran in through the southeast and goaled at the five-minute mark. Sam Connock then entered the fray, slotting a goal two minutes after the last. It was 81-60. Dale received a free kick and goaled two minutes after Connock. It was 81-66 and suddenly the OMs were back in contention.
A great passage of play started with Freddie McIntyre hitting up Dale, whose incoming ball Jeremy a’Beckett knocked down into the path of Ollie Tyrer. His kick to Connock set up the final kick to Ned, who goaled for the second time to make it 81-72 at the 12-minute mark. Plenty of time remained – but it was Geelong that goaled a minute later. It threatened to add another but a free kick to the OMs deep in defence ended with Hugo Hines kicking perfectly to Ned in the northeast. Ned out-marked his opponent and kicked his third goal of the quarter at the 19-minute mark. At 87-79 the possibility of winning was suddenly very real – but equally possible that it might be nothing more than a dangerous dream that Geelong would brutally end.
Henry Nicholls tackled an Ogger inside the OMs’ arc, winning a free kick and slotting his set shot to take the OMs to 87-85…. As it became quite dark, the Oggers pushed very hard towards their goal, but the OMs got the footy out to Sam Seccull on the southern boundary. Massive comebacks against the odds being his bread-and-butter, Seccull sent a pinpoint kick to Wilbur Brown, amid Oggers and he kicked equally brilliantly to hit up Connock. He took a lightning quick contested mark and coolly slotted his set shot from the southeast. The OMs were in front! It was 87-91 at the 24-minute mark – but with 10 goals kicked in the quarter – eight of them by the OMs - there was still plenty of time for it to go pear-shaped.
Old Geelong had a set shot. OMs held their breaths as…it missed. The tension was insane. At the 28-minute mark it was 88-91. Harry Cooper leapt up to chop off an Ogger attack. Connock then officially made this his best game of the season as – having already kicked two last quarter goals – he laid a crucial tackle deep in Geelong’s forward line and received the free kick it deserved. The siren sounded after an extraordinary 32 minutes of come-from-behind footy during which almost everything went right for the OMs. The OMs had come back from the dead to win in the most unlikely circumstances. It was a 49-point turnaround that had come from nowhere. Spectators rushed the Dark Blue warriors who had performed the miracle. They crowded the changeroom as the team sang the OMs’ version of the Games Song with gusto (improvement is still required – another win needed to get there) and savoured the season’s biggest comeback by any Premier B team. With all the focus on the eight goals and the win, what was overlooked was the fact that the OMs kicked 8.1 in the final quarter – a single fault despite the most tense game imaginable.
The result – and the last quarter – had supporters from both sides stunned. The OMs had only managed a goal in each of their insipid second and third quarters. They were lifeless - dead and buried by Old Geelong. From where, then, did those eight last quarter goals miraculously come? It certainly wasn’t anything special in the bag of Snakes passed around at three-quarter time, as some have suggested. Lurch had had a few Snakes but didn’t suddenly feel 30 years younger and ready to kick three. It was instead an innate desire, ability and resilience buried deep within every OM, combining perfectly for a victory none present will ever forget.
Coach James Byrne saw it as the ultimate example of team effort that won the game in the final quarter. It was exactly what he’d called for at the last break. Any team can kick a few early goals in a big last quarter chase only to have that brief momentum snuffed out. However, by the time the OMs had kicked five unanswered goals, any OM who had had doubts now had the self-belief of those who had made those goals possible. That self-belief infected each player until the whole team had it, and the final score showed the power of belief. For the coaches and players, it was variously among the best or THE best win of their football lives.
Despite the team effort that won the game, six had to be chosen as the best of the best.
Captain Tom Spargo was the OMs’ best player as he led the backline in its best effort of the season, especially in the final quarter when Old Geelong threw everything at the OMs – one goal more and this happy ending could have been Old Geelong’s. His intercept marking, reading of the play, and his ability to quickly send his team into attack were elite.
Ned Nichols. Cometh the hour, cometh the Ned. A smaller version of OMFC legend Tom Paule, he has the same creative instinctive knack for generating goals when there are none on offer. Starting in defence, moved to the centre, then given an open forward line in the final quarter, his three goals were decisive.
Wilbur Brown’s first game for the OMs since last year was a blinder. He played a critical role in many transitions between the arcs, especially in the final quarter. Wilbur racked up lots of possessions – all of them top quality.
Lachie Templeton covered a lot of ground besides the centre, reading the play better than his opponents to extract the footy time after time. He hunted and intercepted the ball, and his statistics were off the chart.
Miles Tyrer dominated in the ruck, especially around the ground. Unlike too many other ruckmen, he looks for his men and taps to their advantage. He won every one of the many last quarter centre bounces, playing a critical role in his team’s win: quite impressive in his first year out of Grammar.
Henry Nicholls set up many goals besides kicking two of his own and had many impressive second efforts. He never stopped trying and epitomised what his team did in the final quarter.
The win that almost never was lifted the OMs from sixth to fourth. AJAX (3rd) and Old Camberwell (5th) are also on seven wins. From here the OMs play the top and bottom ends in the remaining five games, starting with De La at Elsternwick Park this week. Following De La are Old Carey (currently 7th, away), Old Ivanhoe (10th, away), Collegians (1st, unbeaten, home) and Williamstown (9th, home).
De La is in second place, a game and almost 11% ahead of the OMs. When they met in Round 7 the OMs had a good start before De La imposed itself on the game. The OMs did not play the successful brand of footy they had played the previous week against Williamstown yet only lost 78-69, kicking a wasteful 2.5 in the final quarter, showing that better positioning and kicking would have won the game. With De La’s fast run, spread and carry it will not be an easy game, but if the OMs stick to their game plan, it will be an improvement.
See you there.
Lurch.