BFNL Grand Final: rolling news and updates
A blockbuster BFNL A Grade decider will see either Geelong Amateur or Ocean Grove break their respective premiership droughts.
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Star Geelong Amateur defender Keisha Guilmartin insists her side won’t focus on the past as it bids to end a run of three-straight grand final losses in Saturday’s clash against Ocean Grove.
Guilmartin said the heartbreaking run of defeats from 2017 to 2019 would not be a factor, with a new-look Ammos team determined to succeed.
“It’s a different team (this year), (we’re) doing it for this year,” she said.
“We’ve been in it every year, just haven’t quite got the goal at the end of the day.
“We can’t focus too much on the past, we’re here to win on the weekend … and I think we can certainly do it.”
Come Saturday afternoon, a drought will be ended for either Geelong Amateur or Ocean Grove.
Ammos haven’t won an A Grade flag since 2016 when they secured a three-peat.
For the Grubbers, it would be their first premiership since 2004.
Ocean Grove defender Kelsey Ollis said excitement and confidence levels are high at the club.
“It’s been phenomenal, last week was pretty exciting and we’ve just got a really good feel in the group and everyone’s really confident,” she said.
“A lot of us have been at the club for a while, this is probably my 10th year in the A Grade side building for this, so the feel has just been pure elation, disbelief, but also belief in a way.”
Geelong Amateur will welcome back Romy Harwood from a subacute stress fracture for the decider, however captain Ashlea Creasey (broken arms) and Ally Matheson (calf) haven’t recovered in time.
Both teams have star power, with Ocean Grove’s Rebecca O’Neill and Geelong Amateur’s Ruby Watson set to play key roles in attack.
Last time these sides faced off in the qualifying final, a 20-8 start in Ammos’ favour was led by Guilmartin’s strong defence on O’Neill.
Guilmartin said her side would back its system on Saturday to slow the star Grubber down.
“I might put the goal defence on my shoulders and see if we can stop her that way,” she joked.
“We have a game style that we think will be effective on the day and we’re ready.”
Ollis said pressure up the court would be key in slowing Watson down.
“The pressure all comes from out the front, I think my work’s made a lot easier by the pressure all the way down the court,” she said.
“Just hard pressure like we did against Torquay … that’ll be how we do it.”
Stars align for former Pie pair
Nathan Brown and Tony Armstrong weren’t sure if they would ever share the field together again.
The former Collingwood teammates last played together in the black and white stripes in 2015 but always hoped to don the same colours again one day.
That “dream” became a reality this year when Armstrong joined Brown at Barwon Heads, with the pair now set to line up together in the biggest game on the Bellarine footy calendar.
“It’s probably one of those things where a lot needs to go right, a lot of stars need to align for it to all happen,” Armstrong said.
“You always want to, but for it to actually happen, I’m still pinching myself.
“We kind of look over at each other, we’re just like ‘this is awesome’.
“One to get obviously, we’re still super focused on (this) week, but it’s also really important, I think, to enjoy this moment right now, because it’s not every week that you win a prelim.”
Brown was full of praise for Armstrong and the impact he’s had on the coastal club since his arrival in mid-June.
“It’s a credit to Tone, it’s been awesome to play with him for us, our personal sort of dream to do it, but what you’ve done for the boys here, your commitment to training … these guys have just stepped up to another level,” Brown said.
“In terms of the culture of the place too, laughing and everything, just providing such a good place to be for everyone.”
For Brown, a Barwon Heads local, the community feel of the club has been what he has enjoyed.
“It’s been unreal, this is my second season (and) I’ve been down in Barwon Heads for three-and-a-half years now,” he said.
“It is a community club … that’s what I love about (the BFL), it’s smaller towns in this region but they have massive followings.
“Local fellas grow up playing for their town and they follow through into the seniors, that’s what I love about it, it’s been really good.”
Armstrong said the Seagulls had “full faith” they could reverse their semi-final loss to Torquay and take the flag in this weekend’s decider.
“Anything happens in a grand final and I think I can speak on behalf of anyone in this playing group or from this club, we’ve got full faith in our ability,” he said.
Seagulls embracing underdog tag ahead of decider
Barwon Heads vice-captain Jaydan McLauchlan says he is embracing his side’s underdog status ahead of this weekend’s BFL grand final showdown against Torquay.
The Tigers are red-hot favourites to win their first premiership since 2017 after smashing the Seagulls by 75 points in a second semi-final two weeks ago, but McLauchlan said they were excited by the challenge ahead.
“I enjoy going in as the underdog for sure, I think they (Torquay) have been the benchmark for two years now, they’ve lost one game,” he said.
“Rightfully so they’ve been labelled as the favourite and we respect them immensely for that.
“We’ll take that underdog status in and certainly fight for it, we’re excited by it.”
Following Barwon Heads’ preliminary final win over Drysdale, coach Daniel Donati said his side would need to “change something” in how it played against Torquay to reverse the semi-final result at Grinter Reserve on Saturday.
McLauchlan said he was sure his coach would have “something up his sleeve”.
“We haven’t gone into details on what the tactics will be for the weekend,” he said.
“He’s certainly flagged that we will make some changes, so we’ll see what he comes up with.”
Having gone into their last encounter with Torquay following a “flat” week after defeating Drysdale in the qualifying final, McLauchlan said this week has been a different story for Barwon Heads.
“We were really disappointed with how flat we were and we couldn’t even tell you why (we were flat),” he said.
“Being grand final week, it’s very easy to get up and about.
“I’m driving here tonight and you’ve got the under-16s out putting blue ribbons up in the town … grand final week’s the week, best week of the year.”
Unlucky Seagull to miss decider against Torquay
Barwon Heads coach Dan Donati says he feels “horrible” for key Seagull Dylan Holland, who will miss Saturday’s grand final with an elbow injury.
Holland kicked three goals in the second quarter of the qualifying final loss to Torquay two weeks ago, but dislocated his elbow in the opening minutes of the third term.
Donati said grand final selection was “the worst part of my job”.
“It’s always tough when you get to a grand final and you have to tell blokes their season is over,” he said.
“Even though we haven’t achieved a premiership win yet, there’s a nice feeling in the air because grand finals are hard to make.
“I feel horrible for Dylan Holland though, he’s been such a key player and a huge factor for us in the last part of the year.
“He’s such a beautiful human, you’ve got to feel for him, but he’s going to hang around with us and help us on game day and still be a big part of any success we have.”
It has been a mixed bag for the Seagulls in finals so far this year, with two strong wins against Drysdale in the qualifying and preliminary finals, but a tough loss against their grand final opponents.
Donati said his side had “definitely” reviewed the footage from the Torquay loss two weeks ago, but have not gone back to the game since.
“We definitely looked at it after the game and in the lead up to the Drysdale game,” he said.
“We needed to internally reflect on it and use it to spark a response against Drysdale, and it did just that.
“I think it shows you how good you have to be in a finals campaign to make the grand final, Drysdale lost one game for the year and were one of the best teams in the competition but they’re not there.
“Our energy was definitely down against Torquay but we were able to come out and respond with a different level, and being grand final week the group is really excited and there’s no chance that energy won’t be there again.”
Grand final heartbreak looms as Tiger declares himself fit
There is set to be a heartbreak story out of Torquay’s camp on Saturday, with captain Ben Raidme declaring himself fit for the grand final against Barwon Heads.
The Tigers skipper missed the qualifying final win over the Seagulls, but is ready to come into the side for the season decider.
Raidme said it was a tough position for the club to be in, but the strength of Torquay’s depth had been an asset all year.
“Missing the first final was very much precautionary, Dom (Gleeson) and the coaches talked me into cashing in on the double chance and back the boys in for a win,” he said.
“I was a little bit sore in my hamstring after the last game, so a two or maybe three week break was perfect to get it right.
“We’ve had great depth all year, I think when you want to challenge for premierships consistently you need that depth, so it’s going to be a tough call on who misses out.”
Former Falcon Clay Page and team-of-the-year full back Ben McNamara were brought into the Tigers line-up for the first final against Barwon Heads, but both are expected to hold their spots in the grand final side.
Raidme said there was a decent consolation prize for the players who miss out, with the reserves side also making the grand final.
“It’s really exciting to have the whole club in this position again, particularly on the back of the last couple of years,” he said.
“It’s a fantastic reward for effort, a couple of years of hard going and hard work on the footy field is paying off for the whole squad, getting two teams into grand finals is a great achievement.
“The experience spread across the group makes my job easier to lead, but the young guys coming through have a lot of talent and experience and that makes my job, and the coaches’ jobs easier.”
Rivalry brewing as Torquay set to face Barwon Heads in consecutive grand finals
Torquay coach Dom Gleeson has “wiped the memory” of the club’s 75-point belting of Barwon Heads in the qualifying final two weeks ago, and says there is a definite rivalry brewing between the two sides.
Gleeson and his Tigers were spectators of Barwon Heads’ preliminary final win against Drysdale, and said he was not surprised the two teams would meet in a second consecutive grand final.
“I felt like people wrote them off a little bit early in the season because of some injury concerns, but that certainly wasn’t the case here knowing the quality of their coaches and players,” he said.
“They were always going to be at the pointy end of the season and I’m not surprised they’ve made it.
“We can’t go into the game too confident with how we went a couple of weeks ago, it’s a completely different game and being a grand final they’re going to be up and about.”
The grand final on Saturday will be the second consecutive season decider between the two sides, with Barwon Heads beating Torquay back in 2019 for the premiership.
Gleeson said there was a building rivalry between Torquay and Barwon Heads after a number of years being consistently at the top end of the ladder.
“There is naturally that rivalry, with both sides at the top of the ladder, and we were hoping they were a bit more beaten up from last week against Drysdale,” he said.
“There has been some water go under the bridge since that 2019 loss, but both sides have been good teams for a while now so there’s definitely some respect there between us.”
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