Kew use versatile offence to progress to Grand Final – Division 1 Men’s Preliminary Final Review

Kew 14.13 (97) def Prahran 9.9 (63)

Kew took control of the Division 1 Men’s Preliminary Final, defeating Prahran by a 34-point margin.

After the two sides had both defeated each other during the regular season, it was hard to predict who would take home the most important win of their seasons.

In the end, the Bears’ scoring was too powerful, despite a seven-goal effort from the Two Blues in the final term.

Kew now get one more chance against ladder leaders Preston, in a Grand Final between two serious rivals this season.

Kew took an early lead into the first break, being on top of scoring shots despite Prahran’s consistently strong defensive efforts. Prahran’s inefficiency going forward was also an issue, an inaccurate second term with six behinds allowed Kew to build out a three-goal lead at the half.

The Bears dominated the third term, with six goals and 11 scoring shots, to the Prahran’s one behind.

The Two Blues did respond in the final quarter, but it wasn’t nearly enough to seriously break down Kew’s game-high 57-point lead.

While missing out on the Grand Final will be undoubtedly disappointing for this Prahran side, it is progress for a team that struggled severely in Premier C last year.

This season may have given them the high-intensity development to dominate Division 1 next season.

Kew, on the other hand, will go into the Grand Final having recovered some of their confidence after a significant loss in last week’s qualifying final. Having rebuilt some of their scoring power, with six players all kicking multiple goals against what has been the best defence in the division.

The Bears will need that scoring power though as they go up against a nearly flawless Preston side once again.

Looking back, Kew was dominated by Preston at the start of the season, with a 94-point loss against the Bullants.

This was before really hitting their winning streak though, and in round 15 Kew would hand Preston their only loss this year, in a 107-point thrashing. This loss clearly kicked Preston into gear though, and the first finals match-up between these two sides, as mentioned, went the way of Preston.

Kew will hope to prove they can match up against one of the strongest performers in the league this weekend, we’ll see how much they’ve learnt in what is hopefully a thrilling Grand Final, full of forward half firepower.