By David Nagel
It’s history in the making!
Two of the powerhouse clubs in West Gippsland cricket – Tooradin and Cardinia – will look to add a silver chapter to the storied history of both clubs when the Gulls and Bulls lock horns in the Premier Division grand final at Tooradin on Saturday.
The opportunity to lift silverware does not come around too often, with both of these proud clubs fully aware of the opportunity that has been presented before them.
The Bulls – the reigning champions – had to wait 12 long years before the hoisting of last year’s premiership cup, while Cal O’Hare and his Seagulls are looking to win silverware that would sit comfortably alongside the cup that Aaron Avery lifted skyward in 2013.
Let’s be honest…these things are bloody hard to win, and some great cricketers never get a chance to win one!
For that reason alone, grand finals are the pinnacle of sport.
But this particular contest has some added ingredients that will make it all the more special.
The Bulls – Cardinia – are looking for back-to-back senior premierships for the first time in their history, while the Seagulls are trying to achieve a premiership that has been within touching distance for so long.
The Seagulls are a talented bunch, but have underperformed at this time of the year…with their major semi-final win over Kooweerup a fortnight ago their first finals success since that heady day at Devon Meadows nine years ago.
Both teams are competitive, they won’t ask for or give an inch…it’s all set for a classic.
Tooradin, well it should be confident of breaking the drought – they’ve been the best team in it all season.
“We’re feeling confident, and so we should be we’ve had a pretty good year,” said O’Hare.
“As the year’s gone on I think we’ve played better and better as a team and ticked things off that we’d like to achieve.
“Especially with the bat, we’ve been good with the bat this year.
“Our bowling has just been okay, but we found our best against Kooweerup and we take some real confidence out of that.
“The way we play our ground, that has improved as well and we saw last year that can make a big difference.
‘We know what we want to do…it’s just a matter of getting out there and executing on the day I guess.”
O’Hare has been the standout for the Seagulls this season, a former gun all-rounder that – largely through injury – has concentrated more on his batting and has reaped the rewards.
O’Hare will walk out to the crease to open with his great mate, the imperious Tom Hussey, while Russell Lehman rounds out a top-three of pure class.
But looking down their list, every Gulls player has contributed significantly at important times and that gives O’Hare some real confidence heading into the big one.
To look around the room and see 10 teammates that you can rely on…that has to be a special feeling.
“I think that is probably our biggest thing, what has probably set us apart from other sides this year, is that everyone has contributed when they’ve needed to, and that’s going to be really important on Saturday,” O’Hare said.
“Especially in a one-dayer, if you’ve got 11 blokes who can make a contribution it’s going to go a long way towards winning.”
O’Hare may be confident, but he knows what the Bulls are made of.
“They back themselves to win games from anywhere, which is probably the biggest thing about them,” he said.
“They’ll be a little bit different to other sides, they’ll have a lot of slow bowling, which is a point of difference and we’ll have to make sure we’re ready for that side of things as well.
“But I’m confident we can do the job again, that’s for sure.”
O’Hare will this week shake hands at the coin toss with a fierce competitor, with the no-fuss approach and hard edge of Jake Prosser the missing ingredient at Gunton Oval in recent years.
Prosser comes in and the Bulls win a flag, surely it can’t be that easy!
Prosser is expecting nothing but a tough contest this time around.
“They’ve had the wood over us this year, and even in the semi last year they played some pretty good cricket and got unlucky with the rain,” Prosser said.
“We’ve got something to prove and especially to come from fourth, it’s not easy to do, and we want that title really badly.
“They’ve been the form team of the comp this year, but if we play our best cricket we’re pretty confident we will win, but we have to bring it for 80 overs…because we know they will.”
And Prosser has no concerns of a mental letdown, after the Bulls epic preliminary final win over Kooweerup.
“Last week (against Pakenham) the chips were against us, we won a game many didn’t expect us to win, and we’ve done it again this week…there was no let down,” he said.
“We just reflect on how we did it, and enjoy it, because finals wins don’t come around every day of the week. It’s an exciting time of the year and we should embrace it.”
Prosser said winning back-to-back flags, coming from fourth, would be right at the top of his achievements.
“A lot, it would mean a lot, coming from where we have, we’ve lost blokes this year, sort of been all over the shop and somehow found our way to fourth,” he said.
“To do it from here would be amazing.
“We’ve still got one to go but if we do it, this would be right up there as a best achievement that’s for sure.”
O’Hare, already a Tooradin legend, would join an exclusive club if he can lead his team to victory.
“It would mean everything, it would be awesome, it would be huge,” he said.
“When I took over as captain that’s the main thing you want to do, to captain the club to a flag would be awesome.
‘It would mean a lot, especially falling short over the years, we’ve been the second or third best side in it and hopefully this year we can turn that around and be the best.”
This is the Seagulls best opportunity, their best outfit, since that glorious day in 2013, to win a flag.
O’Hare, Hussey and Lehman are one thing, but the explosiveness of Dylan Sutton and Brad Butler, the experience of Aaron Avery, they’re all the ingredients that add up to just one thing.
It’s the Seagulls’ premiership…its history in the making…by three wickets or 30 runs.
Tooradin
Players Used: 15
Leading Run Scorers: Cal O’Hare 557, Tom Hussey 432, Russell Lehman 377, Dylan Sutton 243, Brad Butler 200, Josh Lownds 173, Aaron Avery 173, Ben Parrott 134, Tyler Evans 126.
Leading Wicket Takers: Kallan Braid-Ball 23, Dylan Sutton 18, Russell Lehman 17, Brad Butler 14, Josh Lownds 14.
Cardinia
Players Used: 15
Leading Run Scorers: Alex Nooy 395, Jake Prosser 281, Bradey Welsh 270, Travis Wheller 267, Matt Welsh 234, Leigh Paterson 182, Lachlan Volpe 118, Nathan Volpe 106.
Leading Wicket Takers: Travis Wheller 22, Jake Prosser 17, Lachlan Volpe 16, Jack Bacon 14, Dean Henwood 10.
WGCA GRAND FINAL HISTORY
YEAR PREMIERS RUNNERS UP
2001 Pakenham – 8/204 Beaconsfield – 203
2002 Merinda Park – 6/250 Pakenham Upper/Toomuc – 248
2003 Tooradin – 8/154 Cardinia – 151
2004 Cardinia – 9/247 Pakenham Upper/Toomuc – 245
2005 Beaconsfield – 184 Tooradin – 152
2006 Beaconsfield – 9/112 Officer – 110
2007 Cardinia – 3/177 Kooweerup – 175
2008 Catani – 1/108 Beaconsfield – 107
2009 Cardinia – 9/239 Kooweerup – 170
2010 Kooweerup – 8/278 Cardinia – 224
2011 Beaconsfield – 238 Cardinia – 229
2012 Kooweerup – 7/114 Tooradin – 113
2013 Tooradin – 266 Merinda Park – 156
2014 Kooweerup – 158 Cardinia – 126
2015 Kooweerup – 179 Cardinia – 126
2016 Pakenham – 7/218 Kooweerup – 217
2017 Kooweerup – 113 Pakenham – 108
2018 Kooweerup 7/257 Pakenham – 126
2019 Pakenham – 6/164 Kooweerup – 161
2020 *Kooweerup (1st) Pakenham (3rd)
2021 Cardinia – 111 Kooweerup – 83
*No Grand Final due to Covid. Kooweerup premiers due to higher ladder position.
