THE Greater Western Victoria Rebels have produced a fightback for the ages, booting four goals in the final six minutes to record a memorable four-point win over the Sydney Swans Academy.
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In one of the great fightbacks, the rebels trailed by just on five goals with only 10 minutes remaining, but turned on the after burners in the final quarter.
Centre half forward Mitchell Lloyd put the Rebels in front with less than a minute on the clock and the team was able to hang on for the memorable 9.12 (66) to 9.8 (62) win.
Coach David Loader said the Rebels had trained for the exact situation on Thursday night, putting into practice when the game looked lost.
"It was a really good game of contested footy," he said, "They were a really big side and I thought it was a good game.
"It was always going to be a bit of a challenge for our boys. I thought we looked okay when we got it on the outside and we could run the game, but they were very good in close and smacked us up aerially.
"We got to three-quarter after a bad last five minutes of the last quarter. We structured up a bit, we brought some talls up a bit higher and moved Sam Lalor from the middle to full-forward and it just happened from there.
"We trained on Thursday night about how to make the game fast when you're behind and that message was sent out to the boys and they went into overdrive."
Lalor would boot two quick goals to bring the Rebels back into contest with Lloyd's mark and goal putting them in front coming with less than a minute remaining in the contest.
Meanwhile, the GWV Rebels under 19 girls also produced the goods in a huge win over Gippsland Power on Sunday afternoon.
Led by an outstanding game up forward from Lily Jordan, who booted five goals, the Rebels were never headed in running out 9.6 (60) yo 1.4 (10 winners.
Brook Ward and Lila Lappin were also impressive in the big 50-point victory.
It's a short break for the Rebels who will be back on the field on Thursday night contest at Mars Stadium against the strong Geelong Falcons combinations.
"We've got a massive weekend for the club later in the week with a couple of Thursday night matches under lights," Loader said. "I reckon we'll be scrambling to get the boys up and about. There's a few sore ones after the game. The Falcons are in pretty good knick." .
SCOREBOARDS
Boys U19
GWV Rebels 2.4, 4.6, 4.10, 9.12 (66) def Sydney Swans Academy 3.3, 3.4, 7.7, 9.8 (62)
Goals: (Rebels) S Lalor, C Byrne 2, F Valpied, M Lloyd, R Unwin, J Ough, M Scoullar (Swans) M Rider 3, C McClennan, L Cabor, I Kirk, T Gander, J Lugsdin, C Cleary
Best: (Rebels) Oscar Gawith, George Stevens, Harry Charleson, Luamon Lual, Khy Jess, Mitchell Lloyd (Swans) Jeromos Mills-Vasas, Joe Harrison, James Lugsdin, Caleb May, Indhi Kirk, Khy Gibbs
Girls U19
GWV Rebels 3.2, 7.3, 8.5, 9.6 (60) def Gippsland Power 0.0, 0.1, 0.2 1.4 (10)
Goals: (Rebels) L Jordan 5, R Cellander 2, J Rentsch, C Mahony (Power) Z Burn
Best: (Rebels) Brook Ward, Laila Lappin, Lily Jordan, Jessica Rentsch, Molly Walton, Charlotte Hill (Power) no players listed
