It was the ‘shank’ that catapulted Freo to a gritty win over Carlton, but the man that kicked it thinks he was a bit fortunate.
Lachie Neale’s set-shot with just seconds left sailed through the big sticks, barely.
“It was very lucky it went through, it was a bit of a shank,” he said after the game.
Neale called on the advice of club assistant coach and former West Coast goal-kicking great Peter Sumich as he lined up to take the shot.
“He always speaks about going through our routine, so I stuck to that,” Neale said.
“It didn’t come off the boot very well but it went through. I just had to clear everything from my mind and go through my routine.”
Neale does not recall ever kicking the winning goal in a game of football during his career.
While he didn’t know how much time was left on the clock, he had a good idea.
“I heard the boys calling everyone back so I knew there wasn’t long to go after I kicked it,” Neale said.
Fremantle had to play the second half without Matthew Pavlich and Tendai Mzungu.
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Neale admitted being down men was taxing, but he said the players knew they just had to get on with the job.
“When you’re out there you don’t really think about it,” he said.
“We knew it was going to be tough, and in that second half we had to dig deep to get over the line.
“We didn’t play our best football, did we, but to the boys’ credit we stuck at it in the last quarter.
“I thought (Nat) ‘Fyfey’ was excellent through the midfield. He really drove us, and Aaron (Sandilands) as well in the centre bounces in the last quarter.
Freo now has a nine-day break before facing top-four contender Geelong at Simonds Stadium next Saturday night.
“We’ll review thoroughly, because we weren’t at our best and we need to get back to our best footy,” Neale said.
