Great Southern Colts Carnival: Three wins for Upper Great Southern in strong showing as trio recognised

Upper Great Southern Football League capped a strong Great Southern Colts Carnival by winning their third and fourth playoff on Sunday. A strong Uppers outfit finished third overall, losing only to eventual grand finalists Goldfields before they bounced back to beat Great Southern Storm by 21 points on Sunday. Scores were level at quarter-time before Upper Great Southern took control with majors from Stockton Shotter, Riley Holden and Braydon Keley. Three goals to one in the third term extended Upper’s lead to 24 points and they did enough in the final term to prevent any Storm comeback. Shotter finished with three majors in the 7.9 (51) to 5.0 (30) win while midfielder Tom Kilpatrick was superb winning a stack of clearances and possessions. Abdul Pickett, Kacey Beard and Keley (two goals) were also key parts of Upper’s strong finish to the two-day carnival. In their third match on Saturday, Uppers were left to rue a poor first half as they went down by 32 points. Kilpatrick (two goals), Flynn Spark and Beard were terrific but their side fell to their only loss of the campaign, 4.7 (31) to 10.3 (63). Earlier Holden booted three goals and was well supported by Spark and Kilpatrick (two) as Uppers ran out 42-point winners over Lower South West. They kicked five goals in each half and were strong defensively in the 10.7 (67) to 3.7 (25) triumph. Uppers missed plenty of chances in front of goal in their first game but still emerged with a 38-point win. Holden kicked two goals while the work of Jirapas Watson, Kilpatrick and Blake Reynolds stood out in the 5.10 (40) to 0.2 (2) win. At the end of the carnival Uppers trio Holden, Spark and Kilpatrick were named in the Great Southern 20. Kilpatrick was also recognised as the Uppers’ best and fairest player across the four matches.