By JARROD POTTER
ELLINBANK AND DISTRICT FOOTBALL LEAGUE
REVIEW – EAST GRAND FINAL
ETCHING their names in Ellinbank District Football League history, Buln Buln fought off Longwarry to take a 26-point victory to earn their 12th senior premiership.
Buln Buln emerged from the EDFL East’s inaugural premiership battle victorious to claim the 14.9 (93) to 9.13 (67) win over Longwarry to capture its first flag in a dozen seasons.
The drought extends back to the halcyon days when the Lyrebirds claimed three flags in six years from 1997-2002 as part of a dynasty team including the likes of Anthony Baker, Paul Rust, premiership coach George Morgan and premiership captain Haydn Major.
This year’s Lyrebird champions placed their names in the history books with a supreme second quarter effort to build the important buffer.
It was a close-called game through the first term as Buln Buln took a slender six-point lead.
Six Lyrebird goals in the second term changed that dynamic.
The tables turned as the top Buln Buln brass made inroads through the second term.
The top Lyrebird started slowly but gained huge momentum through the midfield as the match progressed.
Buln Buln’s Tyson Bale, who was awarded the best on ground medal for his superb match, started to get the pill at will as did Darcy Brown, Bob McCallum and Carlton Helliwell, all battling manfully to keep the Crows at bay.
One of the youngest captains in the league, Trent Baker – son of Buln Buln 300-game legend Michael – excelled across the wings and through the middle to set up first touch for forwards Sean Proctor (four goals) and James Davidson (three goals).
The fight remained in the Crows as they surged at the start of the fourth. A pair of goals brought the margin back within three kicks, but a stabilising goal from Bale sealed the deal and brought the cup back to Station Street.
“It’s all a bit of a blur actually,” Lyrebirds coach Paul Alger said.
“I thought we played well and shut down their run basically – they’re very dangerous when they’re allowed to run and they have some good players and we were able to hold their good players and get some good ball movement ourselves.”
“We were happy to win – they came at us in the final term – they got within three goals and had a chance to get within two goals at the 10-minute mark of the final term and we needed a steadying goal.
“They were definitely coming at us – they’ve been a good side all year and the best side this year and we had guys going down with cramp and that’s how important winning that second semi was, otherwise it would have been our blokes going down with it last week and (they’ve) got to try and front up the week after.”
For Longwarry, the gallant lead-out work of forward Semir Zijai (three goals) and Stephen Hawkins (three goals) manufactured the lion’s share of the Crows’ goals while league best and fairest Tye Holland excelled through the guts.
“They worked a bit harder than us and used the ball a bit better,” Longwarry coach Dean Rice said. “Their goals came a lot easier for them and across the whole day we decided to kick more than they did but they were more efficient going forward and kicked better than we did.”
Rice thought the side was well served by Nicholas Walsh, Aaron Serong, Ahmet Zijai and Brodie Rundell.
While the Crows were left to lick dual wounds – as the reserves were downed by a single point, also by Buln Buln – Rice believes the club is trending upwards.
“You don’t want to lose grand finals, but the club and where they are heading, after not playing a grand final after 30 years, was a great positive,” he said.
The tension was ramped up earlier in the afternoon as Buln Buln eked out a one-point premiership triumph in the reserves clash against Longwarry.
Paul Williams booted the Crows back within a point in the dying minutes, but Longwarry could not find another shot as the siren blared to give the Lyrebirds their first flag of the day.
EDFL EAST
Buln Buln 2.3 8.4 12.7 14.9 (93)
Longwarry 1.3 3.5 7.9 9.13 (67)
BULN BULN Goals: S. Proctor 4, J. Davidson 3, M. Gray 2, J. Nuttall 2, B. Virgona, T. Bale, D. Hall. Best: D. Brown, T. Bale, R. McCallum, C. Helliwell, J. Davidson, T. Baker.
LONGWARRY Goals: S. Zijai 3, S. Hawkins 3, J. Bourke, D. Holland, T. Holland. Best: N. Walsh, T. Holland, J. Serong, D. Holland, A. Zijai, G. McDonald.
