Southern league 2019: Dingley holds out Cheltenham to claim its fourth premiership in five years

Coach Shane Morwood said Dingley could now be considered a “great club’’ after seeing off Cheltenham in the Southern league Division 1 grand final.

Dingley lifts its fourth premiership cup in five years.

It was a familiar sight on the premiership dais: jubilant Dingley players, with their beaming coach, Shane Morwood.

Count them and commend them: the Dingoes on Saturday captured their fourth Southern league Division 1 flag in five years, defeating Cheltenham by 12 points and prompting Morwood to declare Dingley could now be considered a “great club’’.

Two weeks earlier Chelt had thrashed the Dingoes by 63 points, putting the Rosellas in contention to win their first division one premiership since 1934.

At a windy Moorabbin ground, Dingley took the prospect of a Cheltenham fairytale and turned it into an unforgettable adventure of its own.

The Dingoes led at every change, though by narrow margins, and they held on in the final quarter with desperate defence, failing to score themselves but restricting Chelt to two points.

The Dingoes celebrate after the final siren.

With tall targets Will McTaggart, Sean McLaren and Finn Ryan, the Rosellas have a potent attack, as they showed in the second semi.

But in the last term they went forward more with hope than method or conviction. The Dingoes asked big Danny Ades to go back and help the backline, and he did it well, getting in spoils when he couldn’t mark.

The gusty wind was no friend to Chelt’s forward line either.

As Morwood saw it, the final quarter was “full of pressure, stoppages’’.

And so at 4.48pm the exultant players, officials and supporters who had made a pack on the ground sang the club song: “We are the Dingley boys…’’

The siren brings another premiership for Dingley coach Shane Morwood.

Soon after as they made their way to the presentation Collingwood premiership player Morwood met congratulations with the words: “Now we’re a great club’’.

“Back in February at our training camp in Rosebud, I said I wanted us to be known as a great club,’’ he said later.

“Other clubs within this league are probably envious, jealous, probably even hate us in some parts, for what we’ve achieved for a long time. I wanted to escalate that to another level. For us to be known as a great club, we had to go all the way this year. A lot of hard work, a lot of dedication was obviously involved in that. I hope now this football and netball club is known as a great club. I think it’s taken us to another level now.’’

Morwood has been coaching Dingley since 2011, and there is speculation he will stand down in the next week or two, handing over to Danny Ades and going out on a premiership high.

Disappointed Cheltenham players after the match.

Five-time Dingley premiership player Andrew Frost did retire after the grand final.

“I’m cooked, mentally done,’’ he said.

Frost, 33, played his first senior game for the Dingoes in 2004 and is regarded as a true great of the club.

“Pretty excited, mate. Great effort from everyone today,’’ he said of the flag that gave him a handful.

“Every year that we’ve won a flag — and we won three in a row — we always got beaten by the team during the year, so the boys always pull it back and win on the last day.’’

MORE SOUTHERN LEAGUE

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FIRST FLAG IN 21 YEARS FOR HAMPTON PARK

He left football not only with another flag premiership, but a gash over his left eye.

Forty-year-old forward Troy Parker also called it quits, after 447 senior games.

He contributed a vital goal late in the third quarter, getting away a snap to answer goals from Dylan Weickhardt and Drew Kelly (a cracker from the boundary) that put the Rosellas in front.

Ruckman Vergim Faik nailed a set-shot to send Dingley into the last change 12 points to the good.

Captain Travis La Rocca and coach Shane Morwood raise the cup.

Grittily, the Dingoes stayed there, completing a 12-goal turnaround from the result two weeks earlier.

Morwood called it an “incredible effort’’.

“Got them back on track, put a line through the second semi,’’ he said. “It wasn’t us. But to prove that you’ve got to produce the next week and obviously in the big dance here today. We had certain things we had to focus on, certainly some structure things, and I think they did it spot on today,’’ he said.

“Once you’re in the game and the pressure’s on, they (Chelt) weren’t used to that from 14 days ago. The mind games are super-important.’’

Onballer Chris Horton-Milne received the medal as best-afield, shading Travis La Rocca and Dingley favourite Lucas Walmsley.

Daniel Farmer celebrates a goal for Dingley.

On a day when goals were as valuable as gold, the Dingoes got two from young players Remmi Faulkner-Wood, steering through a set-shot in the first quarter, and Rory Goldsmith, intercepting a stray Cheltenham handball in the third term.

McTaggart booted two in the second quarter for the Rosellas, the first a superb snap in the demanding conditions.

He was among Cheltenham’s best, alongside his captain, Jack Worrell, and the doughty Weickhardt.

Rosellas coach Des Ryan said his team had a tremendous season and had played “exciting football’’.

“Unfortunately in the conditions today we didn’t take the game on as much as we could have,’’ he said.

“They (Dingley) closed us up at the right times. I wanted the boys to be courageous with their ball movement, change direction, but we didn’t do it enough. Disappointing because the opportunity was there. We had blokes in good form but we couldn’t get all of them in the game. The first half of the third quarter was really good but a good opponent who knows this end of the season rode it out.’’

Dingley also won the reserves grand final, defeating Mordialloc, but fell short of St Kilda City in the Under 19s decider.

Dingley 2.2, 5.3, 7.7, 7.7 (49)

Cheltenham 1.3, 3.5, 5.5, 5.7 (37)

Dingley goals: R. Goldsmith, R. Rusan, D. Farmer, R. Faulkner-Wood, V. Faik, L. Hard, T. Parker

Best: C. Horton-Milne, J. Ades, L. Walmsley , D. Ades, T. La Rocca, V. Faik

Cheltenham goals: W. McTaggart 2, D. Weickhardt, J. Worrell, D. Kelly

Best: J. Worrell, D. Vaughan, S. Hayes, W. McTaggart, D. Kelly, D. Weickhardt