Wy Yung secures East Gippsland league premiership

Almost a year on from the pain of grand final defeat, a country footy club is back on top after premiership success. Here’s our wrap of the today’s grand finals.

Wy Yung captured its fifth East Gippsland league premiership with a hard fought eight-point win in the grand final against Boisdale-Briagolong at Bairnsdale on Saturday.

The Tigers were beaten in last year’s grand final by Stratford after finishing four games clear on top of the ladder and had a similarly dominant home-and-away campaign this season.

Wy Yung prevailed 6.11 (47) to 5.9 (39) to win its first flag since 2015 with a strong cross breeze contributing to wayward kicking from both teams.

Boisdale-Briagolong had climbed from a bottom-placed finish last year into the grand final.

Wy Yung’s Mitchell Toms won the medal for best-on-ground.

Boisdale-Briagolong led by eight points at quarter time before Wy Yung upped its intensity in the second quarter with the only goals of the term from Brodie Anderson and Bayden Ashwood.

Wy Yung Tigers celebrate. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

Ashwood kicked his second goal from a snap in the square early in the third term and Wy Yung was able to halt any challenge Boisdale-Briagolong could muster.

The margin was reduced to only seven points at the 11-minute mark of the final quarter before league best-and-fairest Marcus Hottes found teammate Tom Stephenson clear inside 50m and he duly converted the sealer.

Rod Bills took over as coach of Wy Yung this season after coaching Orbost to a premiership in 2006.

“I’ve always had the hunger and I think about footy every day,” Bills said.

“I saw the group play last year and I thought I could give something. I like youth and I brought a couple of blokes in from Melbourne that I knew.

“It just flowed on from there.”

It was a hard fought game of footy. Picture: Yuri Kouzmin

The hard-luck story of Wy Yung’s victory was Jai Nicholls, who broke his leg in round 16 and Boisdale-Briagolong lost one of its prime movers, Harrison Swarski to a serious knee injury in last week’s preliminary final.

“Every game we’ve had they have been hard-fought games,” Boisdale-Briagolong coach Sam Bedggood said.

“We got them once in a close one and they got us once in a close one before finals.

“We took it to four quarters and that’s all I can ask for.”

Meanwhile in the day’s other country footy grand final, Bambill successfully defended its Millewa league premiership after a 12.12 (84) to 11.5 (71) victory over Gol Gol.

Originally published as Wy Yung secures East Gippsland league premiership