Diggers Rest is Riddell District premier after a commanding win over Woodend-Hesket

Diggers Rest is back on top of the Riddell District mountain, capping an outstanding season with a dominant premiership victory over Woodend-Hesket.

Diggers Rest celebrates its RDFNL premiership. Picture: Aaron Cook

The Burras are back on top.

Diggers Rest are Riddell District premiers once again after a dominant 44-point victory over Woodend-Hesket in Sunday’s grand final at Romsey Park.

The flag is Diggers’ third in the past eight seasons and caps a remarkable campaign that saw it lose just one match all year.

Jaycob Hickey was awarded the McIntyre Medal as best-on-ground, while Marcus Calvaresi ran riot with four goals in the 16.9 (105) to 9.8 (62) triumph.

It completed a premiership double with the reserves also saluting with a 38-point win over Wallan.

Diggers Rest coach Jamie Lobb and captain Mitch Jensen lift the RDFNL premiership cup. Picture: Aaron Cook

Action from the RDFNL grand final. Picture: Aaron Cook

Jamie Lobb is now a two-time premiership coach and said the final siren brought a mix of emotions.

“Relief, happy, excited, I think we deserved this one,” he said.

“It’s been a good year, it’s been a good day – the twos did the double as well – so happy days back at the club tonight.

“(The loss) came at a good time for us looking back at it but it’s irrelevant come finals times, you’ve just got to go out and play your best footy and we did that.”

In perfect conditions, both teams moved the ball freely in an open first quarter.

A six-goal-to-four quarter gave Diggers Rest a 13-point advantage.

The Burras took control in the second term with four goals to one to open up a 34-point lead at half-time.

The Hawks responded in the third term but couldn’t make an inroad on the scoreboard, instead the minor premier increased its margin to 38 points to put one hand on the premiership cup.

There would be no last-quarter comeback for Woodend-Hesket this time.

After a brilliant finals series that saw it bounce back from a qualifying final loss to win a cut-throat semi-final and then knock off Wallan in the preliminary final the team ran out of legs.

Diggers Rest celebrates its RDFNL premiership. Picture: Aaron Cook

Taylor Hine on the run for Diggers Rest. Picture: Aaron Cook

Hickey and Calvaresi were superb for Diggers, while Jaidyn Caruana, ruckman Mark Orr, Mitch Day (three goals) and Josh Flower also impressed.

“Jaycob was fantastic and Marcus kicked four and had about 30 touches, so he would have been close (to the medal) as well,” Lobb said.

“Mark Orr and Jaidyn Caruana were good, all the boys that you want to play well for us to win.

“I think the heat got the big boys from Woodend in the end.

“We had a bit more run than them, us having the week off and them playing every week probably took a toll on them.

“We learnt our lesson against Wallan, s--t’s going to go wrong at some point and when it does you’ve got to stay with it, stay focused and grind it out.”

For Woodend-Hesket, Tayte Pears was named best afield, while Harley Giddings, Tim Martin and James Wiseman were strong contributors.

Returning from injury, Tom Gawthrop was a shinning light in attack and finished with four goals.

While it will be disappointed, the Hawks can look back on a season that saw them break several droughts, playing finals for the first time in more than a decade and reaching their first grand final since 2007.

The club didn’t walk away empty-handed, winning the A-Grade netball premiership with a 46-37 victory over Riddell.

Tayissa Coppinger was named best-on-court.

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In the reserves, Lachlan Meyers was awarded the best-on-ground medal, while Mitch Brockwell made up for the heartbreak of missing the senior premiership with three goals.

Glen Stewart was short odds to be best-on-ground in the post-match festivities.

Macedon’s Brad Cook was awarded the grand final medal in the under-19s as the Cats defeated Gisborne Giants by 99 points.

In the netball, Riddell claimed the B-Grade flag over Macedon with Samara Harris named best-on-court, while Western Rams went back-to-back in C-Grade, also defeating Macedon, as Ro Paulo was awarded the grand final medal.