St Bedes/Mentone Tigers went down to Collegians by 36 points in the VAFA Premier Division Grand Final on Sunday at Elsternwick Park. Our congratulations to Collegians on their well deserved win. On a balmy last VAFA day of September at a windless Elsternwick Park in front of a huge and boisterous crowd, Collegians were first away and looked to have immediately taken the initiative with early goals, but the Tigers regained their composure, manned up and began to play contested football, as they had so effectively the previous week against Old Xaverians, and took the inititive straight back from the Wesley team with some bone-crunching tackles and hard running to wrest the lead back with 4 goals of their own to finish the first stanza with a well-deserved 16 point advantage. In the second, the Tigers started where they had left off in the first but were unfortunately off target thereby leaving the door ajar for Collegians who whittled back the lead and eventually with a brace of goals took control of the game as the Tigers were unable to maintain the pressure of the early going and allowed the Purple Men too much latitude to show off their pace and skills – 7 goals to zip was a true indication of the quarter that left the Mentone team 26 points in arrears and staring at an uncomfortable second half. The outlook only became worse when Collegians slammed on the first goal of the third quarter to extend the lead to 32 points but from there the Tigers were tigerish as they slowly took control back with Luke Collins, Simon Richards and Jack Hellier willing their team back into the contest and with another dose of man-on-man football spliced with some slick ball movement and run.
St Bedes were now on the verge of returning from the football grave as Luke Terrell inspired them with 3 goals of his own to bring the Purple team’s lead back to 6 points just before the siren only to see the opposition steal a crucial goal from a very, very quick ball-up 20 metres out from goal. A 12 point three quarter time deficit seemed extremely manageable with the Mentone team’s well-documented last quarter heroics but alas in this instance it was not to be as after 10 minutes of arm-wrestling with neither side goaling the Wesleyites slammed on 4 majors to issue the death-knell to the Tigers’ aspirations – but even then, with Luke Wintle leading the way and showing the attributes of a true champ and as he had all-day (all-season, all-career) absolutely refusing to accept the inevitable, St Bedes would not lie down kicking 3 of the last 4 goals. But the margin was always too great as the Purple Men justifiably celebrated a momentous victory and the Tigers tasted the bitter pill of Grand Final defeat. There are no more next weeks this year and St Bedes/Mentone Tigers have to be satisfied with the knowledge that they went down to the better side, a Collegians team that had tasted that pill 12 months earlier, borne the pain for a year and methodically taken the next step to raise the premiership cup – to the victors the spoils….. •This was the Tigers second-best ever result in VAFA football, not a bad achievement for a very willing outfit who throughout the season refused to accept defeat even when all rational men might have been willing to concede – indeed an admirable, well-recognised and envied attribute. •Congratulations to Owen Lalor and his young men who have given all of their family, friends and supporters an amazing ride for the whole of the 2011 season – we have all been proud to watch you display your character and your skills and look forward to seeing you develop and grow from this outstanding season in the top division of a very, very demanding competition.