TUMBY Bay easily accounted for Lock in the second semi final to move straight through to the Great Flinders grand final.
Played in wet conditions at Ungarra, Tumby Bay started with the advantage of a fresh breeze in the first quarter.
Lock started without gun full forward Kerran Glover, and Tumby were missing leading full back Syd Lawrie who was given another week to recover from a minor injury sustained in the last home and away game.
Both teams struggled to control the wet ball early under finals pressure. Even the usually super-skilled Tumby captain Michael Curtis uncharacteristically fumbled the football on a number of occasions.
Eventually Chris Prime got Tumby moving with two goals, with Sam Read and Nigel James adding two more Tumby goals with brilliant individual efforts.
Kory Beard looked dangerous up forward for Lock and was proving a handful for Stuart Richardson, who was filling in at fullback in the absence of Syd Lawrie. Beard kicked the only goal for Lock for the first quarter.
Matt Mellor was also providing plenty of drive for Lock.
After kicking four straight goals to start the game, Tumby wasted opportunities and finished the quarter with 4-9, and Lock were lucky to only be 26 points down.
Great attack on the football from Tumby hard-man David Butler set up Chris Prime for the first goal of the second quarter, and Butler then showed his skill slotting one home from deep in the pocket.
Tumby extended their lead to 54 points at half time. The conditions and the pressure made for a scrappy affair and it was the skill and determination of Josh Cave and Paul Jefferson in the clinches that gave Tumby the ascendency.
Tumby continued to draw away in the third quarter.
Lock had plenty of the football and Alistair Pearce was proving difficult to pass across halfback, but the Roos chipped the ball around and played indirect football. The conditions made it difficult to maintain possession and Tumby consistently hurt Lock when the ball was turned over.
At three-quarter time the lead to Tumby Bay was 77 points.
Lock moved Alistair Pearce up forward with immediate effect to start the third quarter as he marked strongly and goaled.
Tumby replied with well-earned goals to Josh Cave and Paul Jefferson.
Lock’s Luke Northcott excited the crowd with a spectacular leap and mark right in front of the beer tent. He found Alistair Pearce in the goal square with the resultant kick to give him his second for the quarter.
Tumby Bay took no chances in the final quarter and rested Chris Prime and Paul Jefferson on the bench to save them for an important date in two weeks time.
When the final siren ended what had been a scrappy and uninspiring second half, Tumby Bay were 84 points in front.
Lock looked content to try and get through to next week without any major injuries, and hopefully earn another shot at Tumby Bay with a win against Ramblers at Lock next week in the preliminary final. However, they will need to play better to overcome the experienced Ramblers outfit who know how to make grand finals.
Tumby Bay would be happy with the four-quarter effort but will need to take their football to a higher level in two weeks if they want to go back-to-back.
Whoever their opponent is in two weeks will go in as the underdog and have nothing to lose, and you can be assured in a grand final that they will throw everything at the unbeaten Blues.
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