Northern Blues go back-to-back with Victorian Amateur Football Association Division 3 grand final win against Richmond Central

NORTHERN Blues coach George Wakim often tells his players to live by the mantra that the desire to succeed must be greater than the fear of failure. On Saturday, the Blues carried out that message to perfection to win the VAFA Division 3 flag.

VAFA Division 3 grand final: Northern Blues V Richmond Centra at Garvey Oval Bundoora. Norththern Blues coach George Wakim Picture: Richard Serong

NORTHERN Blues coach George Wakim often tells his players to live by the mantra that the desire to succeed must be greater than the fear of failure.

On Saturday, the Blues carried out that message to perfection, outgunning Richmond Central to claim the Victorian Amateur Football Association Division 3 premiership at Garvey Oval.

The 14.18 (102) to 12.6 (78) victory continued the Blues’ perfect record in finals over the past two years, which Wakim attributes to their fearless approach.

“We’ve used that through the whole finals campaign,” Wakim said.

“In the two years that we’ve existed as a senior club, we’ve played six finals games and won all of them.

“We play a pretty bold (style) ... and the first thing that happens when someone stuffs up is the runner will be racing out to say ‘don’t worry about it, do it again’.

“The message certainly was to take the game on and we felt that our running was going to be the thing that beat them.”

Midfielder Damon Marcon was awarded best-on-ground honours, while Northern Blues’ co-captain Dean Calcedo played a crucial role across half-back.

The game was an arm wrestle throughout the opening half, with the Blues narrowly edging the contest on the scoreboard at half-time.

The Blues made a decisive run in the third quarter, booting four goals to two to hold a 22-point lead at three-quarter-time.

With one hand on the premiership cup, Wakim’s side denied Richmond Central a way back into the contest in the last term to secure their second flag in as many seasons.

The Blues coach said his team had approached this year’s finals series with a different mindset to 2013 having finished on top of Division 3 after the home-and-away season.

“Last year, we came from sixth, so that’s pretty special to come from sixth,” he said.

“We always felt that we were a pretty good side and we sort of finished sixth because we didn’t have our strongest players on the ground all year.

“Whereas this year, we seemed to have won a lot more games and then by the time we got to the finals there were probably four sides that could have won it.

“In a way it makes this one pretty special too.”

Wakim said “natural improvement” from the club’s young players would help it be competitive in Division 2 next year, but admitted there was likely to be some changes within the senior squad.

James King sprints clear for Northern Blues in Saturday’s grand final. Picture: Richard Serong