GSFL 2025: Red-hot Railways in grand final after Hayden Parker destroys Mt Barker with 12-goal performance

Railways player-coach Bodhi Stubber has praised the performance of qualifying final hero and star forward Hayden Parker. Parker booted Railways into their fourth Great Southern Football League grand final in five years with an incredible 12-goal haul on Saturday. Parker kicked 85 goals in the regular season and is now expected to break the landmark 100-goal mark in the decider in a fortnight after his heroics at Keep The Sheep Stadium. Stubber said kicking a big bag of goals in a crunch final took something special. “For Parksy to play that way, we’ve got to be able to get the ball in as fast as possible and where he wants it, he said. “That’s true midfield dominance, and that happened today. “To do it in home-and-away season is great but to watch him do it in a final, that’s when you know he’s a really star player. “I couldn’t be happier for him. He works really hard, wants the best for his team, and you can see when Parksy is up and about the whole team lifts around him.” A wayward Mt Barker kicked themselves out of the contest early and had just one goal on the board at three-quarter-time. The home side were the opposite, and with Parker on fire they opened up a 91-point lead by the last break and finished 65-point victors. Parker destroyed the Bulls in the first three quarters, kicking the first six goals of the game, and at one point had nine straight majors. His first blemish was a ball bouncing into the goalpost, and by three-quarter-time he had 12 goals in a dazzling display. Parker missed two shots in the fourth before he was put on ice by the Tigers, who were coasting on their way to another grand final berth. It took until the 24th minute of the second term for another player to kick a major as Camball McMahon ended the Bulls’ frustrating drought. The Tigers spearhead could not be stopped however, as he added five goals in the third and passed one off to teammate Kane Shephard. An eight-goal to nil blitz in the third sealed the Bulls’ fate as the Tigers marched to a huge 19.15 (129) to 9.10 (64) win and booked their place in the grand final. Parker finished with 12.3, while Shephard (three goals), Joel Want (two) and the impressive Bailin Curtis (two) also hit the scoreboard. The Tigers’ only sour point was a knee injury to Logan Stubber, who did not play out the second half. Ryley Valli, Beau Ewen and Jayden Scott did a power of work in the middle, while Milan Jaggi and Bodhi Stubber were strong in the back half. After an early Tigers goal which stretched the margin to 97 points, the Bulls restored some respectability with eight majors in the final term. Four of those came from the boot of veteran Lee Pavlovich. The Bulls kicked four behinds in a row in the second quarter and went into half-time with 1.9 on the board. Bulls coach Gary Pope said their failure to convert was disappointing. “We didn’t have that unity today more than anything, to play as a team,” Pope said. “We had our opportunities early but you’ve got to score and kick goals in a second semi and against a side like Railways. “(Kicking 1.9) that’s just not good enough, and the third quarter fell to pieces. “But we’ll take positives out of that last quarter kicking eight goals. We finally started playing our style of footy.” Darcy Wallinger went down with a shoulder injury in the third term, while Sam Lehmann and Kye Griffiths also didn’t finish the game. Tristan Ballard was brilliant in defence despite the constant pressure, and Brent Parsons made a strong return from his knee injury in the midfield. Darcy Lubcke and Pavlovich also worked hard in the heavy defeat. The Bulls clearly missed key pair Seb Ballard and Darcy Clarke, who both missed through injury.