Supreme with the lot

Narre Warren livewire Stewart Scanlon celebrates one of his five goals in the Magpies huge reserves' grade victory over Pakenham on Saturday. Lions’ defender Cory Bevan knows his sides’ fate has been sealed. 127742 Picture: JARROD POTTER

By DAVID NAGEL

CASEY CARDINIA FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
GRAND FINAL REVIEW – RESERVES

SIMPLY supreme!
A fit, fired up and fantastic looking Narre Warren stamped itself as the pre-eminent force in reserves’ football on Saturday with an emphatic 83-point premiership victory over Pakenham at Edwin Flack Reserve.
Let’s be clear… this is not a reserves’ team that we’ve become accustomed to over the years – where are the tubby fellas, the ageing warriors, and the blokes who loathe kicking on their opposite foot – this instead, is a chiselled outfit – highly skilled – that could easily slot into a higher level of football if the case need be.
That’s back-to-back titles now for the Magpies, and it would be a brave man to suggest that the boys from Fox Road aren’t right on track to emulate the Doveton side which clinched its third consecutive premiership in 2009.
Pakenham deserves credit – it produced an amazing effort to reach the grand final – but it became apparent quite quickly that effort alone was not going to cut it against such a formidable opponent. The Lions were typically brave early, but the Magpies clear edge in pace and talent took a hold after a wasteful first half.
The Magpies built on their 22-point half-time lead in style, Stewart Scanlon rocking the Lions with a goal inside a minute, followed by six-pointers to Mitch Cowan and Andy Vella that locked away this year’s premiership.
Sean Winsall kicked an unbelievable goal, from 80 metres out, to give the Lions their first taste, at the nine-minute mark of the third term, before Scanlon and Nathan Reid kicked the margin out to 45 points at the final break.
The Magpies then celebrated in champagne fashion, booting 8.2 to 2.0 to run away with the prize.
Scanlon finished with five, Vella three, and Andy Ray two for the winners while the run and carry of players like Damian Collins, Alex Sakadjian and Mitch Tonna proved too much for the Lions to handle.
Big men like Ben Carter, Sam McLean, Corrie Intveen and Trent Papworth – all big and strong – rounded out a polished display.
The Lions will be hurting – and understandably so – but they can reconcile themselves with the fact that there’s has been an extraordinary run through September.
Winsall, Damo Talbot and Chris Cardona never hoisted the white flag on the weekend, while youngsters like Jackson Hillard and Adam Alberni showed they can be consistent senior performers of the future.
But Narre… congratulations… you are simply supreme!