Southern league: Grand final despair will drive Frankston Dolphins
Frankston Dolphins lost one game for the season: the grand final. Coach Rich Mathers reflects on the year and why he was “really proud’’.
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Frankston Dolphins were “burning inside” as they watched Lyndhurst launch into wild celebrations after Saturday’s Southern league Division 4 grand final.
The Lightning had just won a pulsating flag decider by eight points, 6.15 (51) to 5.13 (43), at Power Reserve to claim their first senior premiership.
It also denied the Dolphins a perfect, undefeated season; they fell at the last hurdle.
To their credit, the Dolphins were gracious in defeat. They stood in a group, allowed Lyndhurst to celebrate and then made their way to the Lightning huddle and patted their opponents on the back and said, “well done, mate”.
The Dolphins then watched Lyndhurst receive their premiership medals.
“You’ve got to take it all in and let it burn inside you to want to get back to the big day and hopefully be on the other side of the ledger,” Frankston Dolphins playing coach Rich Mathers said.
“I couldn’t be more impressed with the footy club, they handled themselves so well.’’
Frankston Dolphins reserves side also lost the grand final to Lyndhurst but Mathers said his club’s culture shone through.
“We filled the rooms up on Saturday night, had an absolute full house, committee members, volunteers, all the players…just really proud of how everyone conducted themselves,” he said.
Mathers said the Dolphins were likely to lose a couple of players to retirement but overall the side would stay together and resume its premiership pursuit next year.
Reflecting on season 2022, Mathers said the Dolphins, who won 18 of its 19 games, “got a lot right”.
“Leading into the finals we only lost five quarters of footy for the year, so structurally we were pretty sound,’’ he said.
“You can always look at adding a couple of pieces here or there but I think with how the season went we got a lot right.”
Mathers said Lyndhurst was “no doubt the better team on the day” in the grand final.
But he said the Dolphins may have paid the price for going in to the big game undefeated.
“I mean that can be the issue coming in undefeated and not facing adversity throughout the season and knowing how to react in a pressure environment like it was on Saturday,” Mathers said.
Mathers himself kicked 80 goals for the season, while Liam O’Donnell was also outstanding in attack with 59 goals.
Andy Mathers was superb in the midfield all season, while Jackson Smith, Tyler Wooster and Nathanael Furlong featured in the Dolphins’ best players in most games.
“Personnel wise the list is pretty sound, structurally looking down the spine we look pretty good moving forward,” Mathers said.
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