Southern league: St Paul’s wins grand final over East Malvern at Springvale
THE young St Paul’s Bulldogs are the top Dogs of the Southern league after defeating East Malvern in the grand final.
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From the four-minute mark of the first quarter when the dangerous Matt Kreymborg threaded through the first goal of the match from a tricky angle, Saturday’s SFNL Division 1 premiership cup was destined for the hungry hands of St Paul’s.
Try as it might, East Malvern couldn’t mark its first appearance in a top-grade decider with an
historic victory and eventually succumbed 11-10-76 to 5-8-38 in almost perfect conditions at Springvale.
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It was the day of the Dog, and coach Jason Heffernan was chuffed.
“It’s awesome for St Pauls,” he said as he was congratulated from all sides.
“I feel really proud because when I took over they were all just young boys and two years later we’re premiers. It’s been amazing.
“We were bundled out of the finals in straight-sets last year and knew we had to improve.
“We knew we were better this season but whether that would take us to a premiership, we weren’t to know.”
After a scrambly opening that saw all the play in the Doggies’ half, the Panthers defied the flow of play to grab a three-point lead at the first break.
The loss of centre-half back Alex Spencer, stretchered off late in the quarter after a head clash, caused some worry in the Doggies’ camp.
The experienced Steve Brewer was giving East drive out of the middle but the clearing dashes of the fleet-footed Connor Byrne were blunting many of the Panthers’ forays into attack.
East also had no answer to the sticky hands of Josh Verlin, called up by the Doggies for
a grand final after just one senior game for the season.
Verlin was marking everything, but his kicking was letting him down.
Kreymborg continued to make his presence felt for the Doggies and when the nuggety Steve Muller put the minor premiers in front again at the seven-minute mark, it was the last time the Panthers were that close.
But they were never too far away to challenge — although the 10-point deficit at halftime flattered them, there was hope.
An inspirational goal by the brilliant Ryan Mullett early in the third term brought the margin back to four points but that was their last hurrah and their last goal until it was too late.
A quick answering goal by in-and-under terrier Curtis Murfett heralded what was to come and as the Panthers kicked points, three of them from the boot of the busy Mullett, the Doggies kicked goals.
They went into their final huddle of the year 20 points up.
East Malvern’s young coach Nathan Robinson implored his men to take risks, but Heffernan asked his charges to avoid any risks — they just had to keep their heads.
If Panther supporters still held out any hope, it was shattered at the start of the final term when Doggies forward Brad Dolan booted two goals in 90 seconds.
Big Chris Carey was battling tirelessly in the ruck for East Malvern and Jack Waterston was heroic in his efforts to reduce the impact of St Pauls skipper Keiran Knox, but it simply wasn’t enough.
When Muller kicked his fourth goal for the game, more ice was ordered for the champagne. A late goal from East’s Xavier Linton was met with little response from the crowd.
It seemed appropriate that Brad Dolan finished the quarter as he had started it, with the final goal of the season on the final siren. It was his fourth for the grand final, on a day the young
Doggies came of age.
St Paul’s had winners all around the ground, with midfielder Lachie Butler and ruckman Nick Halliday among them.
The dashing Byrne was a popular choice for the Menielly Medal as best-afield, while Dolan, Murfett, Knox, Kreymborg and the lately arrived Verlin all made their mark.
For Verlin, it was karma that took a decade.
Ten years ago he received a Wednesday night call to tell him he had been dropped from Hampton Rovers’ grand final side. Last week, the Wednesday night call put him
into a premiership side.
“I’ve been very lucky,” he said as he cradled his premiership medallion.
“I thought I would hang up the boots last year and never dreamt I would be here on grand final day.”
The Herbstreit brothers — Carl, Matt and Liam — shared premiership medals to uphold the Doggies’ tradition as the “family club’’, and a fourth brother, Shaun, played in the reserves grand final, won by Port
Melbourne Colts.
Although disappointed, East Malvern coach Robinson is already eyeing grand final day next season.
“At the end of the day, we didn’t play four quarters of footy,” he said.
“I think the fact that they had a week off didn’t help us. We looked a bit sore and didn’t impact the contests as much in the second half and they just ran over the top of us.
“The third quarter hurt us when we went forward and kicked points and they went forward and converted.
“We had a lot of players down and when you’re not playing your best footy against a team like St Pauls, it’ll hurt you.
“But we’re all on board for next season and hope to be here again on grand final day.”
SFNL GRAND FINALS
Division 1
St Pauls 2.3, 4.5, 7.7, 11.10 (76)
East Malvern 3.0, 3.1, 4.5, 5.8 (38)
GOALS, St Pauls: Brad Dolan 4, Stephen Muller 3, Matthew Kreymborg 2, Connor Byrne 1, Curtis Murfett 1
East Malvern:
Xavier Linton 2, Thomas Stephenson 1, Ryan Mullett 1, Nicholas Dykes 1
BEST, St Pauls:
Brad Dolan, Bradley Gilder, Nicholas Halliday, Kieran Knox, Stephen Muller
Division 1 Reserves
Port Melbourne Colts 2.2, 7.4, 9.9, 11.10 (76)
St Pauls 1.0, 2.2, 3.3, 5.5 (35)
GOALS, Port Melbourne Colts: Jason Butler 4, Arlyn Hagiwara 2, Christopher Wangman 2, Christian Gurry 1, Benjamin Smith 1, Nicholas Harkins 1
St Pauls:
Constandinos (Dino) Karamoshos 2, Matthew Brown 1, Ryan Kreymborg 1, Matthew Simons 1
BEST, Port Melbourne Colts:
Christopher Wangman, Daniel Vuli, Benjamin Wilson, Benjamin Smith, Jason Butler, Max McNaughton
St Pauls:
Constandinos (Dino) Karamoshos, Matthew Simons, Jack Kreymborg, Eric Lengyel, Matthew Brown, Frederick Jenkins
Under 19
Dingley 6.1, 6.2, 9.8, 10.8 (68)
St Kilda City 1.1, 5.4, 5.7, 6.11 (47)
GOALS, Dingley:
Connor Watson 2, Remmi Faulkner-Wood 2, Troy Brimble 1, Cody Cochrane 1, Rory Goldsmith 1, Seth O’Donnell 1,
Stefan Lamble 1, Liam Leeson 1
St Kilda City:
Julian Howard 3, Mosiah Addi 1, Joshua Cochrane 1, Matthew McNaughton 1
BEST, Dingley:
Brody Stainer, Taj Lewis, Alex Windhager, Stefan Lamble, Daniel Stewart, Connor Watson
St Kilda City:
Julian Howard, Ubil Chol, Ayang Nyanjok, James Nyanjok, Oliver Woods, Paul Pekaj
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