New Norfolk defeats Lindisfarne in epic SFL grand final

NEW Norfolk has regained the mantle of king of the SFL after outlasting a heartbroken Lindisfarne in an epic grand final at North Hobart Oval.

Luke Joseph, left, and Roger Belcher were chaired off after the ground after the SFL grand final between New Norfolk and Lindisfarne at North Hobart Oval. Picture: SAM ROSEWARNE

NEW Norfolk has regained the mantle of king of the SFL after outlasting a heartbroken Lindisfarne in an epic grand final at North Hobart Oval.

No stranger to the big stage — the club was contesting its eighth premiership decider in nine seasons — the Eagles emerged with a pulsating 13.14 (92) to 13.9 (87) victory to add a sixth cup to the trophy cabinet since 2009.

Coach Matthew Smith had no hesitation declaring it one of the sweetest, with his men outplayed for arguably three quarters before standing tall when it mattered down the stretch.

After kicking the first goal of the match the Eagles found themselves down by 23 points at quarter-time when the Two Blues piled on five unanswered majors.

But with best afield Jason Laycock getting on top in the ruck to allow his midfielders to control the stoppages, the side which was undefeated through the roster season began clawing its way back.

Still Lindisfarne was able to answer every challenge, but when Zeke Gardham goaled after the three-quarter time siren New Norfolk had cut the margin to eight points to set up a grandstand finish.

The last quarter didn’t disappoint, with the lead changing hands five times in an engrossing contest.

Trailing by five points as the clock ticked into time-on in the last stanza, Lindisfarne had the ball locked in its forward half for six minutes but was unable to get any reward as mass numbers piled around every stoppage.

That was until the sherrin squirted out to Justin Howlett, who threw the ball on his boot from 35m to put the Two Blues up by two points with three minutes remaining.

Lindisfarne then flooded numbers back, only for Laycock to win the next centre clearance. He found Jacob Wigg alone on the wing, who ran to the 50m arc before pumping the ball long.

Despite a huge pack forming, Lindisfarne was unable to punch the ball through for a behind, with Eagles forward Marcus Parker kicking an opportunistic goal off the ground in traffic at the top of the goal square to again give his side the lead with less than two minutes left.

New Norfolk then held on until the final siren sounded.

“The boys just fought on, played with plenty of character and determination in the last quarter,” Smith said.

“We knew after the start if we were able to slowly peg them back we might be a chance late in the game and it happened.

“Our boys just did what we have done all year, that’s set up correctly late in the last quarter, went hard at the footy, put our heads over it and probably played North Hobart a little bit better.”

While it was ecstasy in the Eagles camp, it was an all too familiar feeling for the Two Blues, who crashed to a fifth grand final loss in 10 years and second in a row.

Coach Daniel Willing has been at the helm for four of them, and struggled to put another defeat into words.

“You start questioning yourself with what you’re doing wrong, I’ve been here four times now and can’t get the job done,” he said.

“I felt we were the better team for a lot of the day ... at quarter-time we were well on top but just their experienced players willed them into the game.”