Banyule’s NFL Division 2 premiership redemption three years in the making
Banyule was forced to wait three years for redemption and the Bears didn’t waste their chance, cruising to a second flag in six seasons.
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Banyule’s rapid ascent of the Northern Football League continues.
The Bears claimed the Division 2 premiership with a 25-point victory over Eltham at Preston City Oval on Saturday to earn promotion to the league’s top flight for the first time in club history.
It’s been a remarkable rise for the former VAFA club, which was admitted to the NFL in 2015 and now has two flags in six completed seasons.
And Banyule’s celebrations are double with the under-19s saluting earlier in the day, defeating Laurimar by 46 points.
The 10.17 (77) to 7.10 (52) win also delivers long-awaited redemption following Banyule’s grand final defeat in 2019.
Bears coach Paul Harris said the combination of a premiership, promotion and redemption made for a sweet feeling.
“It’s huge, the aim for the club all along was to get to Div 1,” he said.
“There’s always a lot riding on a Division 2 grand final, one, the pressure of winning a premiership and, two, wanting to get up to Division 1.
“I think the club is in really good shape, today’s side the average age would have been 23-24, and the under-19s won today as well.
“Eltham had been the benchmark all year and we had to bring our best footy and fortunately our boys were up to the challenge.
“We’d been building all year, we got off to a slower start but things started to click in the back half of the year and we delivered today.”
Eltham kicked the opening goal of the day through Josh Merkel but Banyule quickly took control.
Jack Langford opened the Bears’ account and they slammed on four more goals, including a James Kayrooz major on the siren following a spectacular mark, to take a 21-point lead.
The second quarter turned ugly with both teams making simple errors and several questionable umpiring decisions.
It took 12 minutes for the first score and just one goal was kicked – thanks to Eltham’s Dan Owen – in the quarter as Banyule defended grimly to preserve a 16-point margin.
Owen’s second goal early in the third quarter narrowed the margin to just nine points as Eltham looked to make a move in the premiership quarter.
However, Langford quickly put Banyule in the box seat with three unanswered goals.
Panthers co-captains Darcy Vallance and Jackson Weatherald had a nightmare 10 minutes at the end of the term.
Vallance gave away a stupid 50m penalty off the ball, which walked Langford to the goalsquare and then Weatherald’s kick-in was intercepted by Aydin Dani, who’s goal saw the margin blow out to 34 points at the final change.
Langford’s fifth goal came with a tinge of controversy as it looked to have been touched on the line and all-but sealed the game.
Despite the margin, Eltham finished strongly, kicking the final three goals of the game to earn some pride.
Ruckman Tim Martin was awarded the best-on-ground medal for a superb solo performance despite a rolled ankle in the third quarter.
Langford was the leading forward on the day, while Nick Biscontin would have made Danny Frawley proud with his defensive display, spoiling a number of Eltham attacks.
In his first game since July 30, Kye Yodgee was prolific in midfield, while Riley Loton, Adam Carafa and James Kayrooz also impressed.
Martin paid tribute to his midfielders and his club for erasing the pain of 2019.
“They’re pretty clean, they make me look good,” he said.
“I think I’ll probably split this five ways and give it to those boys.
“It’s unreal, it’s been a long time coming missing those couple of years.
“You feel the disappointing of 2019 and then don’t get a crack at it for three years, so we’re feeling vindicated today.”
Harris said it was hard to pick a best player.
“The backline has been super for a while, we’ve been fortunate that it’s been settled for a while back there,” he said.
“They work really well together and any high balls don’t tend to get marked and that’s exactly what happened to today.
“Tim was huge, he took the challenge up to the young fella from Eltham who’s had a great year as well.
“I’m a little biased but I thought our midfield was excellent – Loton, Blackmore-Moore, Carafa and Yodgee for a bloke that hasn’t played for five weeks was super.”
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For Eltham it is a second grand final defeat in three seasons.
Panthers coach Rob Hyde admitted his team had been outclassed following the game but was confident it would be back next season.
Finnbar Maley impressed in his head-to-head battle with Martin in the ruck, while James Minahan, James McCormick, Daniel Horsfield and Mikael Avramov also stood tall.
The Panthers didn’t walk away empty-handed, claiming the reserve grade premiership following a 83-point win over Diamond Creek.
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