2026 Australia Cup Semi Final Recap

All right, let's jump in now to the Australia Cup semifinal down there in Melbourne on Tuesday night.

South Melbourne 3, Lions SC 1.

Three goals for Baldrick, cancelling out an early goal for Jackson Hart-Phillips.

Kurt, we'll break the game down in detail over the next 20 minutes or so.

But overall, this was a really high quality game between these two sides.

You could see the intensity in what these two teams have been.

They are two of the best NPL teams in the country.

They put on a terrific display, which South Melbourne were just able to get over the line in.

Arguably two of the best NPL teams.

in the country at the moment too, based on form.

Again, from our media, from what we've been reading the past fortnight, that South were unbackable favourites too.

But look, you've got to take your hat off to the Queenslanders, their Lions, who played a very, very good game.

And Adam, you saw it down there firsthand.

How was the crowd? How was the environment down there?

Oh, look, it'll sound fantastic.

And, again, I've had over the years plenty of pot shots at South Melbourne.

But, look, last night was one of those special nights being part of football here in Australia.

You know, just 5,600 in attendance.

Predominantly South Melbourne fans.

Obviously, a sprinkling of Lions support in there.

But it was just one of those nights where you remember what football is and why we love it.

At the end of the day, the result, from a Queensland perspective, may not have been what we wanted.

But certainly you've got to take your hat off to South Melbourne.

Again, they were under pressure for the game.

I know I had a bit of a spit about it on the Queensland football show about how the southern media and all that had basically sort of, you know, basically anointed South Melbourne to face Melbourne Victory in the final before this game was over.