2019 QAFL Champions: We look back at the untold stories of Surfers Paradise’s 2019 QAFL premiership
As we prepare to welcome local football back on July 11, we have decided to take a look back at the heroes who led their team to QAFL premiership greatness in our new ‘We are the Champions’ series. SUBSCRIBE TO READ FULL SERIES
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THE smell of freshly cut grass wafts around the Gold Coast. Lines are painted and goal posts secured. Pies are warmed up as canteens prepare to reopen.
Footy is back!
From this Saturday, the Gold Coast will again be bursting with mouth-watering suburban match ups as eased restrictions allow for a condensed Aussie rules season to play out.
To celebrate, we are taking a look back at our 2019 Gold Coast premiership sides in our new We are the Champions series.
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We’ll uncover the untold stories, behind the scenes drama and gripping moments that culminated in premierships for the ages.
When it comes to underdogs, there was arguably none bigger than Surfers Paradise.
Palm Beach Currumbin was chasing their third straight flag and had already defeated the Demons earlier in the final series.
But history means nothing on Grand Final day as Surfers Paradise prevailed 63-61 to claim their first flag since 1998.
Jack Taylor: Unlikely hero’s journey to rediscover love for the game
IT was the European sabbatical that would eventually deliver Surfers Paradise defender Jack Taylor to footy’s pinnacle.
A former Suns academy product, a Surfers life player and two-time reserves premiership player, Taylor reached a point in his late teens where he fell out of love with the game.
“I’ve been playing footy since I was 5-years-old so I got to the point when I was around 17 or 18 where I’d had enough of the training and commitment involved,” Taylor said.
“I travelled to Europe but once you have a season off, you realise straight away how much you miss it.”
A few years later, and Taylor was walking around Metricon stadium with both a premiership and Joe Grant medal for best on ground draped around his neck.
Taylor’s uncle was a part of the Demons’ last premiership in 1998 so it was only fitting the Taylor name was etched into the history books once more.
“I’ve been involved with seniors since 2013 and we were a bottom end club for a few years there but to see the rise and our juniors coming through has been pretty special,” he said.
“There was so much excitement and nerves racing through my body.
“I just tried to take the whole day in because none of us have probably played in front of a crowd that big.”
Defenders are the type to keep things simple, and Taylor is no different.
His pre-game routine always consists of a flat white from Benowa Zarraffas and his role in the back six is to nullify his opponent and chop out captain and fullback Brody Haberfield as often as possible.
Taylor vividly remembers Metricon stadium erupting in chorus as one of the Demons forwards laid a crunching tackle in the first quarter.
The rest is largely a blur until the final siren sounded and a 21-year premiership drought ended.
The 24-year-old was completely blindsided when named best on ground, but it made the day even more special than it already was.
“I thought for sure they were going to give it to one of our midfielders but then my name got readout and I had to go up and do a speech and had no idea what to say,” Taylor said.
“We had a few guys play really well and I wasn’t expecting it but it was a privilege to receive it.”
“I had full faith in everyone on our team that we could do it.
“We don’t have many outright superstars but we’re a team and we gelled throughout the whole season.”
Brad Moore: Coach prepared to replace four soldiers
INSTEAD of celebrating securing a QAFL grand final berth against Palm Beach Currumbin, Surfers Paradise coach Brad Moore spent the hours after the Demons preliminary final against Morningside mulling over the players he would have to replace.
Don’t let the 98-51 scoreline fool you, the Demons win over Morningside was bruising.
Four players suffered injuries that would normally sideline them any other week – but grand finals aren’t like any other week.
Josh Matulis was suspected of having broken ribs and possibly a punctured lung following a heavy hit and Paddy Rankin was nursing a calf injury among others who pulled up worse for wear.
“I was already planning to replace four players,” Moore said.
“We were looking at guys who didn’t play we could elevate from our reserves side because they had the week off.
“I don’t know how Josh got himself up but he trained really well on Thursday as did Paddy with his calf.
“We had some real concerns after that Morningside prelim but our physios and medical staff did an amazing job.
“We didn’t have a Tuesday run and then trained light on Thursday as was the state of our list but for them to come out and put their bodies on the line again, no one gave an inch.”
Moore is no stranger to grand final day, having been involved as a player in the past.
But he refused to let himself or his players think about the result of the four quarters they were about to embark on.
“The ultimate thing for me was to keep the players relaxed and settled because our group was fairly inexperienced in senior grand finals,” Moore said.
“Starting well was going to be important but we knew it wasn’t going to stay that way the whole game.
“Instead (of the underdog tag) the big focus for us was what we can do to improve as a group because we know we’ve been able to go well against them in the past so it helped with the belief of the playing group that we’ve done it before and we can do it again.”
As injuries befell both sides and momentum ebbed and flowed, Moore was forced to shuffle a few players and conjure a plan to stop a rampaging Jason Burge from swaying the game in Palm Beach Currumbin’s favour.
An ‘emotional’ three-quarter time speech when scores were level at 53 all ignited a token Surfers spark which would eventually gift them their first senior premiership since 1998.
“You talk about game plans and statistics but I wanted to get back to the raw part of football and that will to win and compete,” Moore said.
“To be honest, I thought there was more time to go and the siren totally caught me off guard.
“One team was going to be lucky to be on the right end of it and I still firmly believe that neither we nor PBC left anything out on the field.”
Brody Haberfield: Captain keeps calm
BY day, Surfers Paradise QAFL captain Haberfield saves lives as a theatre technician at Gold Coast University Hospital.
But on weekends, the defender leads a mission to break hearts all throughout the QAFL.
Grand final day wasn’t a new experience to Haberfield, the Surfers Paradise junior and playing life member winning an under-18 grand final for the club when he was 17-years-old.
But the build-up to the 2019 QAFL decider was unlike any other game he’d been a part of.
“It was a pretty slow build-up from Monday to Friday and it dragged on a bit,” Haberfield said.
“I didn’t have too many nerves, it was just a lot of excitement because the majority of us hadn’t been part of a senior grand final.
“It was surreal and there was more on the line with our reserves grade qualifying as well.
“You had people you hadn’t heard from for ages reaching out to you but you just had to embrace it all.”
As captain, Haberfield stuck firm to his token quarter and halftime message – play brave and play our way.
He knew their best football could defeat Surfers, as it did earlier in the season.
But an ‘underdog’ tag still rang true as Surfers went into three-quarter time dead level with reigning champions Palm Beach Currumbin.
“Moorey (coach Brad Moore) gave us a pretty solid spray and we came out firing,” Haberfield said.
“That final quarter felt a lot shorter than I thought it would be but it was such a massive sense of relief and the crowd ran onto the field.
“I was overwhelmed for hours but then it eventually sunk in.”
Dan Green: Retiring stalwart kicks the match-winner
IT’S the moment that will be replayed over and over again for years to come and the summation of a 28-year long football career.
With scores deadlocked at 53 all at three-quarter time, the stage was set for a QAFL grand final hero and it was retiring Surfers Paradise stalwart Dan Green who assumed the mantle.
Palm Beach Currumbin’s defence had been near impossible to unpick all day but somehow the 32-year-old found himself alone in the square as Joshuah Matulis launched a chaos ball towards the big sticks.
Green converted as behinds from Renee LeFeuvre and Dale Eames were enough to edge the underdogs ahead and secure Surfers first premiership since 1998.
“I couldn’t have asked for a better send-off,” Green said.
“It was such a surreal moment after 28 years of footy.
“I’m so proud of the boy’s efforts and the game.
“It was the perfect, fairy tale ending.
“I couldn’t ask for a better bunch of boys, coach and club to do it with.”
Making the win even more special is the fact Green got to share his last game and first senior premiership with brother Matt.
“No one really knew how long was left,” he said.
“The siren went and I don’t think anyone really heard it and I was just in shock.
“He (brother Matt) was the first person I was looking for and him the same.”
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