Bloods outlast Cobras in Division 4 decider

Jason Bast – @Jason_Bast

Aquinas 14.10-94 def Manningham Cobras AFC 10.9-69

After 18 rounds of regular season football and three weeks of hard-fought finals we officially have our Division 4 Premiers: Aquinas Bloods. A deserving win it was, as they’ve been the best team all year, claiming the minor premiership, too.

The Bloods season started by flying out of the gates with a 96-point victory in the opening round, which set the tone for the season ahead. They dropped their first match of the year in Round 3 to North Brunswick but came back from that with a huge 175-point win the week after. They remonstrated with North Brunswick in Round 14, giving them their 10^th win on the trot and 12^th for the season. The Bloods didn’t lose another match until the final round of the home and away season, falling to Manningham by 45 points. By that stage, however, the minor premiership had already been locked up. They finished the season with the best win-loss record and an astounding percentage of 275.33%, going on to smash the Bulls in their first final to book a spot in the season decider against their eventual challengers, the Manningham Cobras.

The Cobras, to their credit, also had a great season before falling short at the final hurdle. They kicked things off with the first three wins of the year before going down to the Bulls, just as every team did at some point in the season. They dropped a close game to the Rams the week later to slide a spot on the ladder; However, they fired back with the next two wins before being beaten by Aquinas to the tune of 64 points in Round 9. Following that loss, the Cobras then went on to win their final eight games of the home and away season and claim third place on the ladder. Come finals time, they were hitting their straps – and it showed in their first semi final against Mt Lilydale who they demolished by 113 points. The following week in the prelim, the Cobras proved they weren’t simply making up numbers and fought tooth and nail to eventually get over the line against the formidable Bulls to earn a deserving spot in the Division 4 Grand Final.

Despite the Cobras good run of form, you’d have to say Aquinas entered this game as favourites, and it was their’s to lose after such an impressive season.

A tense atmosphere during the National Anthem kicked off proceedings and the big game started as you’d expect any Grand Final to start, a hot footy and a whole lot of tackling. Both teams came to win and there was a tremendous amount of endeavour and courage on display with players putting their head over the footy at every opportunity.

The tight contest on the field translated to the scoreboard and the two teams could only be separated by two points at the first break. Kane Maghamez and Jason Stephens kicked the first and last goals of the term for Manningham while Sam Williams and Phillip Jurkovsky kicked the two in the middle for the Bloods.

There was no relief for the players (or the spectators) in the second term and the footy remained hotly contested. Both teams managed to hit the scoreboard on a number of occasions, claiming four goals each for the quarter.  The margin at half time remained at just two points in favour of the Bloods.

The 2017 OJ Meehan Medallist, Adam Baltruweit, was throwing his weight around at every contest for the Cobras but even he struggled to find time and space. It really felt as though if one team could get on top of the contested ball and start dishing it out cleanly, this game could break wide open, but neither team were willing to give an inch to their opponents. Even into the third term, the contest remained fierce and it looked as though this game would be going down to the wire. For the first time of the afternoon, however, Aquinas managed to earn a bit of breathing space on the scoreboard, though it wasn’t much, and heading into the final term the Bloods led by a slender margin of seven points.

With the game still up for grabs at the final change, it would come down to cool heads and wise decision making; While Baltruweit continued to assert himself on the game, it was Aquinas who proved themselves as the better team in Division 4. The Bloods came out of the gates firing on all cylinders and for the first time they were able to break free of the Cobras pressure.

The midfield stepped up and started to win the contested ball, the Bloods forwards were all-of-sudden spoilt with opportunities. Aquinas managed to snag the first three goals of the final term to create a handy buffer. However, while Aquinas had one hand on the premiership cup already, Manningham managed to get their backs off the wall and fight their way back into the game courtesy of two hard-fought goals. The Cobras’ resistance was short-lived, however, and Aquinas again stepped it up when required. Sam Williams booted through his fourth and fifth goals, respectively, to firmly plant both hands on the Premiership Cup for the Bloods.

Nick Morrison-Storey had an exceptional game for the Bloods and was rightfully awarded the A.K. White Medal for best on ground. However, it wasn’t just Nick who stood up in one of the Bloods hardest-fought wins for the year and Ash Naulty and Michael O’Malley dutifully supported Morrison-Storey on a memorable day for the club. Up forward, it was Sam Williams who did most of the damage on the scoreboard with five majors.

For the Cobras, the aforementioned Adam Baltruweit backed up his stellar season with an admirable performance while Kane Maghamez, Michael Muller and Michael Parkes each finished with two goals apiece. The Cobras were sensational in the second half of the year as they claimed nine consecutive wins prior to their Grand Final loss and I’m sure they’ll threaten when promoted to Division 3 next year. As for Aquinas, if they can continue to develop and grow as a club I have no doubt they’ll continue to climb further up through the Divisions in years to come!

It was a fitting way to end the Division 4 season with a tight match between two deserving teams. In the end, the better team taking the cake. While it’s sad to see the season’s end, we can now start looking forward to 2018 and what I’m sure will be another cracking season of Division 4 football. Thanks for following along with me this year. Enjoy the cricket season and the time off, and I’ll see you all again next year!