Ballarat Football League final preview: East Point v Melton

EAST Point has a shot at winning its inaugural senior premiership when it takes to the field for the Ballarat Football League decider on Saturday.

EAST Point has a shot at winning its inaugural senior premiership when it takes to the field for the Ballarat Football League decider on Saturday.

It is just the third grand final for the club since the merger in 2001 of East Ballarat and Golden Point, two clubs based out of Ballarat’s Eastern Oval.

Club president Gary Wilson said the expectations grew from the start of the season about how well this side could go.

“There are plenty of nerves, but plenty of excitement too that we have got our position to be able to challenge for once,

“There is a couple of players who have been around and striving for a long time for this, so it is exciting to see them finally get a chance at it.”

This year marks 25 years since a premiership came to Eastern Oval.

The 1993 grand final was a famous victory for East Ballarat, which ended North Ballarat’s 49-game winning streak and its hopes of a third consecutive premiership.

East Ballarat was coached that year by ex-St Kilda player Gary Odgers (who had been recruited to the VFL from Golden Point). Wilson said it hoped Odgers would attend the grand final on Saturday.

Golden Point’s last premiership was 1987.

Wilson played for East Ballarat before the merger. His mum and dad, Pam and Barry, were life members, as was his grandfather Hec Wilson, who was trainer for four decades.

Wilson said the main reasons behind the merger were financials and player numbers.

“It was a challenge in the early years ... we were such big rivals in the Ballarat Football League, we shared the same ground and were very successful over time,” he said.

“It was putting two enemies together, I suppose, when we first merged.”

Since the merger, East Point played in the 2006 and 2009 grand finals, but lost both to Redan.

Current AFL players from East Point are James Frawley and Daniel Rioli, who played at the club while he was a boarder at St Patrick’s.

Wilson also said former playing coach Dan Jordan, who is now Essendon’s VFL coach, “really put East Point on the map through the late 2000s”.

“He kicked more than 100 goals a few years in a row, he certainly brought excitement to the club and the ground in that time,” he said.

East Point captain Paul Kodorenko made his senior debut for East Ballarat in 2000, the last season before the merger, when he was just 16 years old.

Kodorenko’s first grand final was in 2006, but he was living in London when East Point made the 2009 decider.

“Me and one of my teammates (Matt Sheedy) ... we listened to the broadcast on the internet,” he said.

He play in a West London Wildcats premiership that year, but it simply does not hold the same place in his heart an East Point flag would.

To win this weekend would be “huge”.

“Initially it was a relief (to qualify for the final) and then excitement now we’ve got a chance to have a crack at a flag,” he said.

“I probably haven’t got that many games left in me to be honest. It would be a great personal achievement, but more so for the people who have been involved over the journey.

“The people who stuck around from East and Golden Point to keep the two clubs alive in the league, obviously East and Point hated each other.

“There have been a lot of people who have battled to try get that success, and we just haven’t had it.”

East Point plays Melton for the flag on Sunday.