AFL Capricornia: Yeppoon Swans beat Glenmore Bulls in senior men’s grand final

See who starred for Yeppoon as they held off a determined Glenmore outfit to win a gripping senior men’s grand final.

James Malone and Shaun Connor celebrate the Yeppoon Swans' grand final win over the Glenmore Bulls on Saturday. Photo: Pam McKay

The Yeppoon juggernaut rolls on, with the Swans claiming their seventh straight AFL Capricornia flag.

They prevailed by 23 points in Saturday’s senior men’s grand final to extend to 106 their record-making run of consecutive wins.

But they did not have it all their own way, with a determined Glenmore Bulls outfit pushing them to the final whistle.

The Bulls led by two points early in the third quarter, but the Swans soon regained the lead and were not headed again, kicking on to win 12.5-77 to 8.6-54.

The gripping, at times fiery, game kept the vocal crowd at the Rockhampton Cricket Grounds thoroughly entertained from beginning to end.

It was a great result for player Christian Burgess, who took on the coaching duties this year following the retirement of Mark Wallin, who was at the helm for six of the team’s premiership.

Not only did he orchestrate the winning game plan, the champion midfielder featured heavily in it, awarded the John Round Medal for best on ground.

Burgess said he was relieved and happy for the players to get the rewarded they deserved.

“It’s been a big year for us. We’ve put in a lot of work and a contest like that at the end was a great way to finish it,” he said.

“It’s just relief and absolute happiness for the boys to get the reward they really deserve.

“Glenmore were fantastic, they came out red-hot. We knew exactly what they were going to bring, and it was that sort of performance.

“We were just over the moon to be able to fight it out and grind and keep going and finish strong.”

The Swans lost two key players during the game, with Tommy Cossens suffering a knee injury and Geordie Taylor breaking his wrist.

Burgess said for the team to finish so strongly two players down was incredible.

“Jamie Garner really stepped up for us, James Malone was really lively in the forward line and Jack Caspani’s tackle in the last line was match-saving,” he said.

Glenmore player/coach Tim Higgins was “super proud” of his team, which pushed the Swans all the way.

“It’s the most passionate team I’ve ever coached or ever been involved with as a player as well,” he said.

“Every one of them just wanted it and they wanted it bad – they hurt, they bled, they sweated and just kept running.

“As a coach I couldn’t be prouder of the effort.”

Higgins said 2021 had been a year of “massive improvement”.

“We won one game two years ago, just scraped into the finals last year and this year I think we won 10 and had a good win in the preliminary final,” he said.

“It’s just been a phenomenal year for all the boys, they’ve all bought in, they’ve worked hard and they deserve medals next year, for sure.”