Damian Cupido became the first Girgarre Football Club player to kick 100 goals in a season at Longwood Recreation Reserve on Sunday and, in doing so, helped the Kangaroos end a 21-year finals drought.
Girgarre will contest its first Kyabram District Football League finals series since 2001 when it faces Shepparton — at Longwood — in the first elimination final on Saturday, August 20.
In horse racing terms Cupido, and his Girgarre teammates, were greeted by a Heavy 10 when they arrived for the final home-and-away round of the Kyabram District League season on Saturday.
They needed only a win — after eighth-placed Merrigum had lost to Murchison-Toolamba only 24 hours earlier — to qualify for the finals, but to complete a unique quinella Cupido needed 13 goals to finish the regular season with 100 goals.
Drizzling rain fell for much of the afternoon and mud patches developed at both ends of the ground, but the elements did not prevent the 40-year-old from dominating the match.
He had 22 scoring shots, along with a couple of attempts that either went wide of the goals or fell short.
He kicked 14.8 for the afternoon, bringing his tally to 101 for the season — from 15 games (an average of almost seven a game).
Cupido kicked four goals in the opening term, three in the second, four in the third and three in the last term, his 100th goal coming after a strong chest mark 30 metres out, directly in front of goal.
He had a single opponent, Longwood’s Devin Gordois, for the entire afternoon.
Gino D’Angelo was the most recent Girgarre player to have come close to kicking 100 goals, his tally of 91 coming in the 1991 season.
Only Violet Town star Jack Exell kicked more goals than Cupido for the season. Exell kicked seven in his team’s one-point win against top-of-the-ladder Avenel to finish with 102 goals (also from 15 games).
Exell’s teammate Josh Mellington kicked 88 goals from his 12 games this season to finish third. Mellington kicked 113 from 12 games in 2021 and 130 from 20 games in 2019.