The Magpies sang their song with gusto in a jam-packed change rooms after six unanswered final-term goals against Port Fairy in Saturday’s qualifying final helped them end their drought.

Proud coach Phil Carse is confident the Magpies’ belief will carry through to their second semi-final showdown with Hampden league benchmark Koroit.

“I didn’t want to make too much of a deal of it the week leading in but it meant a lot to us,” he said of burying their finals hoo-doo with a 13.10 (88) to 6.2 (48) win.

“We talked about it before the game that we haven’t heard that song in September since 2006 so we wanted to allow ourselves the opportunity for the boys to sing it and the town to be around it as well. It means a lot to a lot of people.”

Camperdown held sway for most of the game but a persistent Port Fairy was just seven points down at the final break.

The Magpies were determined to make a statement and the fourth term belonged to them.

Key forward Jacob Mahony gathered a ground ball and snapped a momentum-building goal. 

Charlie Lucas and Luke Mahony, who finished with three goals and a screamer to his name, benefitted from the Magpies’ tenacity around the contests.

Then Eddie Lucas kicked a banana from the pocket. It was party time.

Mitch Danahy capped off the fourth-quarter performance with two goals.

“We knew whether it was going to take one, two, three or four quarters to grind it down that it was going to be a hard, pressured and contested game,” Carse said.

“It took us until the last quarter to really break it open but the boys were able to do that.

“It shows there’s a fair bit of heart in the group but also a good fitness base too.”

Port Fairy coach Daniel Nicholson conceded the Seagulls were in a rut following four losses, including two to Camperdown, in a row.

“It was disappointing. That last quarter our intensity dropped off and we let them cheat and get goal-side of us a lot,” he said.

“We did a lot of chasing and deservedly so, we didn’t put the work in defensively.

“Our training load went up a fair bit over the past few weeks and we’d known our fate and knew we had the double chance and I think the foot might have come off the throttle a little bit.

“We came in with a mentality thinking we could flick a switch but that’s not how it works.”

Magpie defenders Jason Robinson and Jack Williams and midfield duo Cam Spence were among their best, while reliable backman Dylan Gunning was a shining light for the Seagulls.

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