Nerves were high for the U13 boys as the big day took forever to roll over to 4.10pm. Olinda was painted red and white in preparation for the big day and players, parents and coaches were itching to get into the game.
The stands at Wandin were packed in a sea of red and white and the roar was incredible as the game started. It doesn’t get much better than this!
Mt Evelyn had the wind at the backs in the first quarter as they kicked to their strong crowd in an even and tight contest. Their height was telling as the boys struggled to find rhythm in a scrappy contest. At the quarter-time break, Coach Spida was throwing the magnets around trying to find the setup needed for the day as Mt Evelyn went into the break 5 points up.
The boys were calm and collected, and in the second they found the form that they had taken into the last two encounters with Mt Evelyn.
The skills shown around the contest were elite as Captain Courageous Will Blenkiron, Rio Neish and Fletcher Brown found ways to win the ball and hit targets. Jesse Desta lived up to the Bloods name and copped a nose full of tissues for his troubles but that didn’t slow him down for long.
In the second half, kicking into a stiff breeze, Olinda hit targets and found a way to score, breaking the resolve of a competitive Mt Evelyn outfit. The talls, led by Flynn Reeves, Ollie Millwood and Kadin Johnston broke the game apart in the air with strong marks in defence and up forward.
The mosquito fleet got to work too with Ollie Haines, Ned Monkhorst, Spencer Garrett, Al Deering and Hugo Fishburn winning plenty of footy from the bottom of packs.
In the final quarter, kicking with the breeze and to a rapturous sea of red and white, Olinda finished the game in style with three goals in a polished effort with Ko Meihuizen, Jarrah Bellemo, Jakob Boyd and Nate Johnston all being instrumental. Xavier Grimes, Archie Condon, Louie Barry, Braydon Sharp and Trav Vernon all contributed when the game was there to be won. Ben Gowan rose from his death bed and Fergus Hourigan recovered from a season-threatening injury to be there and make an impact.
But there’s also a really great story that needs to be told about this group that paints the picture of the compassion and brotherhood these players have for each other.
James Thornton played his last game of footy in this grand final. For him to even play at all this year has been incredible and he’s taken every opportunity to make the most of his season. Given it’s a grand final and we were in a good position, it would be easy for the boys to want to get out there and be a part of the glory. Rory Ferguson said to Spida at three quarter time that he’d sit out so James could finish his footy career on the ground.
Well done Rory. Not a dry eye in the house. This is what Olinda footy is about.
The U17s also played in a thriller against a monster Belgrave outfit in their prelim final. This was a cracking game of footy with highly skilled, fast-paced footy shown by both sides. The game see-sawed through quarters with Belgrave generally getting the upper hand early and Olinda running over them late in the quarters. But scoring was tough.
In the end, the game came down the last couple of minutes with the boys getting a couple of kicks clear, but Belgrave peppering. Cooler heads on the ground prevailed where the spectators were besides themselves as Olinda controlled the footy to sneak home with a 7-point win, now off to Woori on Friday night for the big dance.
