Gallery | Extraordinary second-half fightback sends Congupna into first MFL grand final in 25 years

Mulwala, which had led by as much as seven goals halfway through the second term, only managed a single goal after the main break as Congupna players and supporters enjoyed a magical 20 minutes of knowing they were grand final-bound.

Congupna co-coach Ben Bingham, who will take on the role solely in 2024, was rapt for his players and supporters who are one win away from ending Congupna’s 30-year premiership wait.

“It’s pretty hard to put into words,” Bingham said post-match.

“It’s massive (for the club), you see a couple of those diehard supporters with tears in their eyes and it just shows how important it is.

“We’ve got a lot of juniors, a lot of locals and guys have been here for four or five years, so for them, the guys who have stuck fat it’s great reward.”

The crowd was left stunned as Congupna halted the Lions’ momentum and suffocated their ball-use while it used the wide spaces to run and carry the ball direct into its potent forward line headlined by star forwards Jak Trewin (six goals) and Elliot Cavallaro (five) goals.

Gun on-baller BJ Squire was everywhere and was often seen on the last line of defence, while ruck Sam Buxton performed strongly and midfielder Tate Mifka provided forwards with entry after entry.

The Road’s captain Daniel Schaper (three goals) was lively as well.

A lower leg injury concern to Mulwala star Jackson Gash soured a disappointing day for the Lions that showed so much promise early on.

Mulwala will find some solace in knowing that its destructive seven-goal-to-one first term was a glimmer of its best football as it now prepares to face Moama this weekend.

“We started the game not how we would of liked, but we had that inner belief that if we could just slowly peg them back quarter-by-quarter ... at the end of the day if we’re in touching distance we knew we could run them off their legs,” Bingham said.

“It wasn’t alarm bells, a lot of the things we weren’t doing right, they were easy fixes.

“It all stemmed from the midfield, they were just getting too easy supply out of their mids, they were walking it out of the centre and our backs couldn’t do anything.

“It was just our mids locking it down and they took that on board and they drove us back into that game.

“We shuffled a few things at half-time, put some fresh legs in there ... we put Sam Poole in there and chucked Brodie Gee in there from the half-back line and it really opened the game up.

“That’s one thing we really pride ourselves on, not being too predictable (inside 50). If ones getting locked down we can get a mismatch somewhere else, it’s been one strength for us this year.”

Moama defeated Finley on Sunday to book its preliminary final date with Mulwala.

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