know they'll be thinking about it as much as they'll try to forget about it." also stating that "It gives us a lot of confidence and psychologically I'm sure it will be playing on their minds,". In the warm up of the game, crucial defender Rhys Williams suffered an ankle injury that would rule him out of the game and the grand final if Victory would win. The Victory as underdogs would beat Sydney 3–2 in extra time, with victory physically scoring all five goals, with own goals by Stefan Nigro and Terry Antonis. Despite the unfortunate error, Nigro's efforts in the match being a late replacement for the injured Williams would secure him a start in the grand final. Antonis, a former youth product and five seasoned player of Sydney, conceded the own goal in the last minute of regular time to bring the score to 2–2, leading to extra time. In the 117th minute, loanee teammate Kenny Athiu would pass the ball to Antonis, surviving three tackle attempts in running from the center line to within Sydney's eighteen yard box to score the winning goal, in what would later be recognized as the club's 2017–18 goal of the season. Victory would travel to Newcastle to face second placed Newcastle Jets, led by former and inaugural Victory manager Ernie Merrick. It would be the A-League's first ever regional grand final as well as one manager versing his former player as a manager in a grand final, and would be remembered for its controversy. Victory scored the earliest ever goal in a grand final from a Leroy George free kick that would be headed into the center of the eighteen yard box by James Donachie then scored by Kosta Barbarouses in the ninth minute. Replays had shown that Donachie was offside upon George kicking the ball, but with the views of the linesman deceived by a Newcastle defender, the goal was allowed to stand as the video assistant referee had temporarily failed. Victory would win 1–0 against a ten men Newcastle after striker Roy O'Donovan desperately attempted to volley a high altitude ball from a free kick that infamously resulted in goalkeeper Lawrence Thomas being kicked in the face causing an altercation to follow. The incident resulted in a ten match ban for O'Donovan going into the 2018–19 season despite an appeal. Thomas later told The Guardian that he had