Thomas Phillips will be nicknamed “Clutch” for the rest of his playing days at Congupna after he lived out every footballer’s dream in Saturday’s extraordinary decider.
With his side down by six points with a minute left and amongst all of the chaos, the level-headed talent found space inside 50 and 40m out from goal.
The footy god’s were scripting up one hell of a story.
Phillips, fresh off turning 19 earlier this month, approached the kick as calm as a 300-gamer and sunk his right boot into the Sherrin.
The ball sailed through the big sticks and Congupna’s Mr Clutch sent his side into extra-time ― one it would eventually triumph in by seven points.
“I’m on top of the world. It’s just starting to sink in,” Phillips said post-match.
“That was my first grand final; I’ve never made it past an elimination final before this year, so I was pretty nervous (coming in).
“I’ve played all my juniors here and this is my second year of seniors. It’s such a wonderful club.”
Supporters and onlookers had hearts in their mouths, so spare a thought for how Mr Clutch was feeling in those whirlwind seconds.
Phillips joked that he hadn’t had his kicking boots on recently ― the memorable goal was only his third major of 2023 ― but none of that mattered as he kicked truly.
“I’d had about four set shots this finals series and I missed them all, so I was pretty nervous. I just tried to blank it out and took a deep breath,”
“I had some tunnel vision, I couldn’t really hear the crowd.
“Once it came off the boot it felt pretty flush and I knew it was home.”
Even Phillips’ mentor and Congupna coach Ash Philipps struggled to watch the set shot.
“Nah no relation, our last name’s are spelt differently, but the joke is that he’s my son because I’m 18 years older than him,” he said.
“He’s had a few shots on goals this year ... I turned around and said ‘I’m not even going to think about it’ and then it went through and it was just incredible.”
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