St Bedes/Mentone Tigers won the VAFA Under 19 Premier Division Grand Final (and their third consecutive premiership) after an epic dual with last year’s premiers De La Salle at Trevor Barker Oval last Sunday.
The Tigers who had outclassed De La by 65 points in the 2nd semi final were raging favourites to win this one easliy too but nothing could have been further from the truth.
From the first bounce it was clear that De La had come to play and had learnt some valuable lessons from 2 weeks earlier – they tackled the Tigers ferociously, were first to the ball and just simply wanted it more and got their just desserts to lead by 9 points at the first break
It just got worse for the Tigers in the second quarter as Chad Ryan and Alex Kane were sidelined with injuries and De La strode to a 32 point lead.
St Bedes, with Paddy Kean in everything attempting to kickstart his side, kicked two late goals and appeared to stem the flow but De La came back straight after half time to re-establish a 31 point lead.
Midway through the third quarter though the Tigers started to win the centre breaks and the stoppages and through the hard-running of Dean Zagami and the consummate skill of Paddy Liston the St Bedes team started to look like the outfit that had won 18 games and only lost 1 for the season.
By three quarter time they had narrowed the lead to just 6 points to set up a gut-wrenching Grand Final last quarter
The final quarter of the season was simply a magnificent example of football as we all love to see it – passionate, skilful and heart-stopping.
De La not to be denied immediately kicked out to a 14 point lead but the Tigers now had a sniff and with Pat Tyquin irrepressible in the forward line and Chad Ryan unstoppable at full forward the Tiges edged closer only to be thwarted by another De La goal
As the quarter ticked past the 20 minute mark the Tiges were still 10 points behind but like all outstanding teams they found another gear when it really counted to finally grab the lead at the 27 minute mark and almost immediately (as all good sides do) kicked another to seal a most-deserved premiership by 8 points
To round off the weekend Tiger captain Gavin Brown was awarded the VAFA Premier Division Best & Fairest (being awarded votes in 11 of the 18 rounds) at the Ammo night-of-nights on Monday evening.
On Sunday in the VAFA ‘A’ Grade Grand Final at Elsternwick Park the two best-performed teams of the home-and-away season face off, as St Bedes Mentone Tigers seniors – attempting to ice their 3rd consecutive flag – take on minor premiers Collegians who are seeking their 16th pennant.