Digger Rest vows to be back again in 2015 after another grand final defeat in RDFL

IT WOULD have been the ­ultimate triumph. But unfortunately for Diggers Rest, it wasn’t to be as the side suffered a second-straight grand final defeat in the RDFL on Sunday.

Footy Romsey v Diggers Rest. Diggers captain John Ryan.

IT WOULD have been the ­ultimate triumph.

Diggers Rest had earned itself a spot in a grand final against a team that had not been beaten all year.

And while most tipsters did not rate them a chance, the Burras believed they could hold aloft the premiership cup on Sunday afternoon.

After kicking the opening two goals of the game, that belief only grew and the pressure began to mount on Romsey.

But while Diggers Rest got close, it ultimately fell three goals short as it suffered a second heartbreaking grand final loss in as many years.

First-year coach Shaun Sims was understandably shattered. The talking was left to president Chris Payne in the rooms after the game, but few words could ease the pain of what was a second- straight grand-final defeat for many players.

“We’ve got great support, great sponsors, some of the best supporters and we’ve just got to stick together,” Payne said later.

“It’s two in a row now. No words of mine were ever going to cheer anyone up. But we’ve just got to stick together.

“We’ve got a good range of guys from kids, a lot of good kids, a lot of experienced guys. We’re going to have another crack because two in a row, what do you do?”

Like Romsey, the Diggers Rest fraternity had still rated their side a chance midway through the last quarter.

But it could not eat into the three-goal buffer the Redbacks had maintained for much of the second half.

“When you’re down you’ve just got to believe — get the football and have a bit of ticker,” Payne said.

“The boys, to their credit, did do that. But Romsey just had too many good cattle on the park.

“There’s a winner, there’s a loser. Unfortunately we’re the loser again and that’s life. But we’ll be having another crack and we’re confident 2015, 12 months from now, we’ll be here again.”