PLAYERS who win grand finals never forget the emotions associated with them.
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They never forget key moments that helped them win, or roles they might have played to get their team across the line.
Save for a few hours possibly in the early stages of Sunday morning, Andrew Nelson will surely never forget his last contribution to the Orange Tigers’ Central West AFL grand-final win on Saturday afternoon.
It is doubtful he will have to buy a beer for a while when he’s around his teammates thanks to his mark and goal inside the final minute of their heart-stopping three-point win over the Bathurst Bushrangers.
Having been kept quiet for the entire game up until that point by a methodical Bushrangers defence, Nelson’s time had come when a long ball wobbled in towards the goal square.
VIDEO: Andrew Nelson speaks after the full-time siren:
“I saw it coming in and was just hoping it stuck,” he said.
“It came down about three or four times in that last five minutes and I was just hoping the big hands would be able to handle it that time.”
The Bushrangers had earned their lead, albeit one that never got beyond a couple of kicks, but Orange had always found a way to stay in touch throughout the game.
As tensions rose in the dying stages, it seemed that one team was hell-bent on scoring points, the other on simply repelling whatever came at them.
In the end it was perhaps that approach that cost the Bushrangers as their hurried get-out-of-jail kicks were being constantly cut off and directed back into their defensive 50.
Still, even after taking the mark Nelson had to go back and nail the kick.
VIDEO: Andrew Nelson's premiership-winning goal:
Normally you would back a forward to nail it 99 times out of 100, but with everyone at the ground either willing him on or trying to put him off, it wasn’t as easy as that.
“I just had to try and blank it out, I had all the Bushrangers boys in my ear trying to throw me off, blokes waving their arms around.
“It was just a brilliant feeling to watch it go through, unbelievable.
“It is a boyhood dream to kick a goal near or after full-time to win a game for their team, and to do it in the most important game of my life is an amazing feeling.
“I’ve got to admit, I thought we were gone there for a while but when Tim Barry went into the middle and started getting more of the ball things started to turn and we found a way to do it.”