EFNL 2024: Boronia wins long-awaited promotion after back-to-back Division 2 flags
It has won it three times in the same tier of competition, but at long last, Boronia has earned promotion after another Division 2 grand final triumph on Sunday.
Eastern
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BORONIA senior coach Matt Clark took to the premiership dais beaming to the legion of brown and gold – “We’ve had to do this the hard way!”.
It’s nigh-on-impossible to disagree.
The Hawks’ 13.14 (92) to 4.5 (29) Eastern league Division 2 grand final victory over Croydon at Mitcham’s Walker Park on Sunday marked a second consecutive flag – and a third in five completed seasons.
They’ve made it look effortless in their annihilation of teams on the biggest stage – but as Clark said in the same breath: “It’s never been easy”.
Sunday’s triumph earns a long-awaited promotion to the next flight – Division 1 – after winning it three times in the third tier, with the club’s progression twice halted by a league restructure.
But at long last, the second tier awaits.
Clark declared the climb had been “a real mental challenge for the group”, winning flags in 2018 and ’23.
“I didn’t know the impact in 2018 that it would have on the group and how hard it was,” Clark said.
“It’s hard to make a grand final, let alone win one – and then when we were able to climb the mountain, we were still playing the same teams and at the same grounds (the next year) and everything remained the same.
“In 2023 we just knew we wanted to get up and we had a really good chat about what are the things we have to do, training standards and off-field standards and how we keep connected to the one goal.”
Last year’s glory had a bittersweet taste for the rising Hawks.
“It’s really been a 24-month, week-in, week-out, hard slog,” Clark said.
“Even last year when we won it, we celebrated, but we never over-celebrated ... straight away (we spoke about), ‘Let’s enjoy tonight, but the job’s not done’.
“We thought we were ready every time to go up, and we probably were, but to keep fronting up every week is an absolute credit to the group that they remained steely focused on the end goal.
“I’m just really proud of the group – I think the way they’ve handled the whole having to win three premierships to go up has been really professional.”
With eyes firmly fixed on the prize of a higher division, Clark’s men got to work from the get-go on Sunday, leading by 20 points at quarter-time before blowing the margin out to 40 by the main break.
Croydon, the only side to beat the ladder-topping Hawks this season, would threaten in the shadows of three-quarter time – consecutive goals bringing the deficit back to 30 points.
But any hope of a Blues fightback would be quickly extinguished by the sharpshooting Ben Robertson, whose run-down tackle of a Croydon defender sewed up his fourth major on the three-quarter time siren.
“They’re (Croydon) a dangerous side – they don’t make it by luck or chance and we knew they would keep coming – the game opened up, especially in the third,” Clark said.
“The guys spoke (at three-quarter time) about how we want to rubberstamp this and finish the way that we started this whole journey.
“That last goal, last tackle from Ben Robbo … I thought that was a really good steadier.”
Robertson would finish with a game-high five goals.
But the best afield medal would be none other than ex-AFL Bomber Josh Begley, with the former Frankston VFL gun kicking four – including two miraculous snaps in the final term.
In one instance he broke the shackles of two would-be Croydon tacklers to find the big sticks – in another, he threaded the eye of a needle from the boundary.
And when he wasn’t troubling the scorers, he was hard at work through the middle, handing out fend-offs left, right and centre.
It’s a second premiership medal at the Hawks for the 26-year-old, who arrived at the club ahead of 2023.
The best-afield honour caps off a season which took in a comp-leading 54 goals.
“In the big moments he stood up,” Clark said of Begley’s match.
“What he’s able to do is draw two or three defenders, and what it does is it opens up someone on the outside for us.
“He was a bull in the centre, too.
“He’s had a great season and he’s such a humble person. He was just up for it and you could tell in the rooms before the game.”
Begley was among a swag of contributors.
Reigning Division 2 league medallist Mitch Mellis “got smashed from pillar to post but just kept digging in”, while Ryan White fired off two goals from the wing.
Josh Hannon gained pivotal ascendancy in the ruck to which midfielders Dylan Dower and Damon Fairchild fed off nicely.
“And our backline stood up – (captain) Harry Burgess was awesome in orchestrating where everyone was standing on the ground,” Clark said.
“They were set up really well all day and credit to the forwards and mids for putting that pressure on.”
Four-time league best and fairest Dean Grice, too.
“He had some big tackles and big moments, especially early in the game – he’s as hard as a cat’s head.”
The premiership marks a fourth for Matt Clark as a senior coach – and a third at the Boronia helm.
The Hawks hadn’t lifted a senior cup since 2000 at the time of Clark’s appointment ahead of the 2018 season.
But the decorated coach is quick to point out the club’s golden run is owed as much to his band of assistants – including long-time right-hand man Steve Teakel – who raised a cup with Clark at Wantirna South in 2014 – and club stalwart Drew O’Hare, who has had multiple stints as caretaker coach at Boronia.
“I’m really well supported,” Clark said.
“Drew, when I first got the role at Boronia, he was the cultural piece we needed in the coaching group to give us some insights – his football knowledge is fantastic and he loves the club.
“Steve Teakel, he was my coach back when I was playing and he gave me the inspiration and love to want to be a coach. He’s been my right-hand man and my calming influence for so long now, 15 years as a coach.”
And then there’s star midfielder Luke Hannon, who Clark believes has all the makings of a senior coach after serving as an assistant this season.
“He’s going to be a really good senior coach when the time’s right – he also looks after the mids with ‘Teaks’ – he connects us to the playing group,” Clark said.
“He’s been a valuable asset with our (coaching) group as well.
“We’re all a bit different which I think is good for the group and for us – we challenge each other.”
Soon after Clark’s acknowledgment of “the hard way” came a boisterous shout to the squad, and the families, friends and supporters swarming at the base of the premiership dais.
As Clark described them: “The strength of the Boronia Football Club”.
“I got messages from people in all parts of Victoria on game-day – from ex-Boronia players who I’ve never met, but they’re connected to the club, still,” Clark said.
“When you look out on that far wing and you see the numbers that were there, two years in a row, they’re a big club.”
A who’s who of past-players packed the soon-to-be-demolished Tormore Reserve rooms one last time for the celebrations on Sunday night, swapping chapters of past glories.
“In the rooms, we had past-players wearing their football jumpers from the ‘80s and ‘90s … they never forget their time,” Clark said.
But the current group’s next chapter – Division 1 football – is just beginning.
“That’s the book we’re writing now – we want to be remembered for our time.”
Boronia 4.2, 7.5, 8.10, 13.14 (92)
Croydon 1.0, 1.1, 3.4, 4.5 (29)
Best players
Boronia: Joshua Begley, Ben Robertson, Fletcher Duke, Dylan Dower, Ryan White, Mitch Mellis
Goals
Boronia: Ben Robertson (5), Josh Begley (4), Ryan White (2), Jayden Collins, Dylan Dower
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