Papunya topples Western Aranda in grand final for CAFL senior men’s community competition

Papunya has won the flag in the Central Australian Football League community competition’s senior men’s division in a tense battle at Traeger Park over the weekend.

PAPUNYA has won the flag in the Central Australian Football League community competition’s senior men’s division, defeating Western Aranda in a tense battle at Traeger Park on Sunday.

The Eagles turned up the heat against the Bulldogs, clenching onto a halftime lead that blew out to a margin of 25 points by the final whistle.

The Eagles celebrated their victory after recently losing to their opponents a few weels prior. Picture: Lee Robinson

It’s the second year running Western Aranda have finished second best in a grand final.

Eagles’ Braydon Wiley said the win meant a lot for the Papunya community.

“This is the third grand final for Papunya and second premiership so I couldn’t be prouder of the boys,” he said.

“They’ve come from a long way back to season, and we’ve lost a few fellas in the community, but this made it worth it.”

Hundreds run onto Traeger oval to celebrate the Eagles’ win. Picture: Lee Robinson

Papunya lost to Western Aranda a few weeks ago in an earlier qualifying match.

Eagles’

Waylen Manson said the previous loss had given his teammates a “heads up”.

“We all went back home, did some hard training and then studied them well, and this is the result,” he said.

For the Bulldogs’ Patty Abbott, the result was disappointing but had a silver lining.

“We were coming back in the last couple of minutes,” he said.

Hundreds made the long drive from Papunya to see their team win the flag. Picture: Lee Robinson

“We can’t win all of time, but we gave it a go. I’m happy we didn’t give up and we finished the game, and we’ll come back bigger and better next year.”

Hundreds travelled from their respective communities to support their teams.

An NT Police spokesman said police were called to several incidents at the oval through the afternoon, where three footy grand final games between 12-6pm.