Polkinghorne takes a punt
It’s been almost a week since the event, but Lions fans still love to talk in glowing terms about James Polkinghorne’s match-winning torpedo.
No doubt as more time passes, the exact distance and degree of difficulty will become slightly exaggerated - much like Michael Voss’ famous punt against Collingwood at the Gabba back in 2000.
Voss was even questioned earlier in the week as to whether he thought Polkinghorne’s kick had surpassed his own efforts.
“Absolutely not. There’s no way it was a longer goal,” Voss tole LIONS TV with a wry grin.
Polkinghorne himself said it was with a touch of luck and desperation that the kick soared so far and straight.
“The quarter had already gone 35-36 minutes, so I thought there was only 10-20 seconds left,” Polkinghorne said.
“So I figured I would have one last crack.”
“I’ve only really practiced a few torps after training - it’s definitely not something you do during training because they can be pretty unpredictable. You’re probably likely to shank eight out of every 10 attempts.”
“It would have been interesting had it not gone through. But I guess you can’t die wondering.”
Polkinghorne also credited the crowd for lifting the team back from the brink and helping deliver the best win he has been involved in since the 2009 Semi Final against Carlton.
“The crowd was only around 15,000, but in the last quarter it sounded like there were 30,000!”
“The boys will take a whole lot of confidence out of that win. We’ve obviously still got a long way to go, but it’s important we drain the positives out of that.”
“The main thing was that we had an appetite for the contest, and maintained that sort of attitude and pressure throughout.”