By Jonty Ralphsmith
Marc Holt’s buzzer-beater in the third quarter turned out to be the final goal of the 2022 Southern Football Netball League Division One grand final.
And, in hindsight, it would prove to be the final one of his illustrious and well-documented career that has spawned well over 1000 goals.
When Cranbourne’s champion full-forward took a typically strong contested mark in the goal-square, deep in the third quarter, he had the chance to go back and nail a set shot.
Kicking truly under pressure, as he has done so many times in his career, would give his side the three-quarter-time lead.
Instead, instantaneously, he turned around and banged his third goal through, the siren sounding as the ball hit his boot.
The umpire awarded the goal.
The intersection of Cheltenham dissent and Cranbourne euphoria illustrated the importance of that decision: it gave Cranbourne the lead at the final break of a game that had yielded just 13 goals.
Hindsight tells us that was the poetic match-winner.
“I reckon I would have opened a ‘Bundy’,” Holt said when asked his reaction to that being his final goal.
Two of those three Holt goals came in the second quarter, which become a seven-goal shootout, punctuating an otherwise quiet day for scoreboard operators.
At quarter-time, when Cranbourne did not register a major despite having five more inside 50s than Cheltenham, coach Steve O’Brien appeared unphased telling his players that ‘the hard one was out of the way’. Now they needed to adapt to the pressure and get their teeth into the contest.
The cult-hero broke the drought, kicking Cranbourne’s first, running into an open goal square after his great mate Ryan Davey gathered a loose ball from a marking contest inside 50.
The 37-year-old banged it through in front of a rapturous Cranbourne cheer-squad of 50 at the South Road end and celebrated eagerly.
His second goal, like hundreds of others throughout his career, came via a contested mark and straight set shot.
In the tense final quarter, when he took another contested mark at the top of 50, he turned his back to the goals and backed himself.
With the result going their way, he can laugh post-match about “giving everyone one last shank” which travelled about 20 metres over the fence and 20 metres forward, as he tried to launch it onto the Dingley Bypass.
One only needed to watch Holt’s celebrations throughout his career to get a grasp of his sense of theatre, and that rare miss gave the physical slog-fest the tense climax it deserved.
As much as his archetypal full-forward’s skillset, Holt made a name for himself for performing on the big stage.
In the 2022 finals series, he scored 16 goals to finish the year as the leading goal scorer in the southern league with 79, one ahead of Aaron Edwards.
He is perhaps most remembered for his bag of eight in the Eagles’ 2014 preliminary final triumph over Narre Warren.
Playing injured, Holt essentially single-handedly booked his side a spot in the grand final against Beaconsfield with six second-half goals.
That mesmerising performance transformed a 41-point deficit, 10 minutes into the third quarter, into a win for the ages.
That game stands out for the love he showed for the club, and resilience to play through injury.
As well as a dominant club footballer, Holt also held a deep passion for representative footy.
In 2013, playing for Casey-Cardinia, he kicked seven.
Opponents Wimmera were well aware of his talent, but the defenders had no way to combat it.
Neither did the Bellarine defenders in 2014…when he kicked eight!
Yet the man with the best hands in community football was starved of club glory after winning his initial flag in 2011, missing the Eagles most recent triumph in 2016 with a leg injury.
Having played in six grand finals, including five for Cranbourne, for just one premiership, getting the cup was the way Holt wanted to go out.
Since he arrived at the senior club in the ‘noughties’, Cranbourne has transformed into a powerhouse of local footy.
It has meant that, for so long, he has carried the weight of expectation and heartache.
And he broke through it in a year when his older brother and 2011 premiership player, Leigh, was assistant coach, and alongside close mate Davey.
His career deserved a second premiership and it got one.
He got his chance to enjoy the best feeling in footy with a beaming smile on his face on the dais, accepting his premiership medallion to the backdrop of a parochial ‘Holty’ chant.
His chat with Star News was briefly adjourned by an ecstatic fan saying ‘Holty’s the best bloody bloke in the world!’
The Eagles know that their era of success was engineered due to Holt’s success.
“I was just emotionally charged,” he said reflecting on the dying minutes.
“How we finished off the year, I just didn’t think we were going to get one.
“I didn’t want to lose it, I had nothing else on my mind – we were going to win.
“When the siren went was when I decided to retire really.
“I have been umming and ahhing all year but I don’t think I can beat that so I’ll go out on a high.
“This place means everything to me – I’ve been here since I was eight years old, it’s family and you’ve always been supported through everything.
“That five or 10 minutes is for the 22 out there, then when you get back it is for the whole footy club.”
