Millewa and East Gippsland leagues battle it out for supremacy

Two country footy leagues will host grand finals will host grand finals on Saturday. Here’s a look at what each side will need to take home the silverware.

The next grand final day in country footy has arrived.

Two leagues in different parts of the state will host senior men’s grand finals on Saturday afternoon.

In the Millewa league, near Mildura, Bambill will be looking for its third premiership in a row against Gol Gol.

In the East Gippsland league, Boisdale Briagolong is chasing their first ever senior flag in the competition against Wy Yung who is looking for their first title in eight year.

We speak to the teams ahead of their grand final day.

Millewa

The community of Gol Gol is right behind its team as it hopes to end a 13-year premiership drought in the Millewa league.

And the coach of the Hawks is confident the team has what it takes to stop the might of Bambill.

Bambill heads into the grand final as the team to beat, after finishing on top and being the dominant outfit in the competition the past few years.

Since 2014, the team has won five of the seven premierships on offer, including the past two.

Gol Gol have been their biggest challenger year, beating them once in round one and forcing the Saints to kick a goal after the siren to beat them in the next contest.

Swan (left) played off half-back in his one-off match for Gol Gol. This was the only time Gol Gol defeated Bambill all season. Picture: Ricky Nixon

In the other two matches, recently, Bambill won by an average of 29 points.

But Gol Gol coach Toby Quirk-Meeks is confident the team has a major chance.

“The first thing is you’ve got to get there, and we’re there,” he said.

“We broke the game down the last time we played them and we won two quarters of footy and they won two quarters of footy.

“It was the third quarter, which broke us open, they kicked six straight. Our contested ball was down, clearances were down in the third.

“So for us it’s how we respond (to the onslaught) but I come out of the game knowing we are a chance next time we play them.”

Quirk-Meeks said the midfield battle would decide the winner and added his team would be bolstered by the return of some experienced players.

“It took us 45 minutes to pick a team,” he said.

“We’ve just got to play four quarters of football.

“We have to start fast, we have to be accountable and have the high pressure ready to go.”

The coach said the town would celebrate hard if the team won.

Located in New South Wales, Gol Gol has expanded rapidly in the past 15 years.

“You go through Gol Gol today and there’s balloons and streamers and they are all the way down to the bridge.

“It would be huge for the community if we won.”

East Gippsland

It could be a historic day for Boisdale Briagolong in the East Gippsland league as the Bombers look to upset flag favourites Wy Yung.

The Bombers are aiming for their first premiership in the competition since the merged identity jed in 2015.

This year the team has surged up the ladder, going from bottom at the end of 2022.

“We had a pretty young side (last year),” Ryan Evans said.

“Even though we finished last we beat every team apart from Stratford, we just let ourselves down in a few games.

“Adding a couple of handy players to that list has just bolstered the team, it’s just made it a complete outfit.”

The team has added Caleb Calwyn, Thomas Bradshaw and Thomas Jolly in the off-season.

Between Calwyn and Jolly they have kicked more than 110 goals with the former winning the league’s goal kicking award.

Now, the team is ready to end their drought.

The team last won a senior premiership in 2001 in the old Riviera league.

The Boisdale/Briagolong squad. Picture: Boisdale/Briagolong Football Netball Club

“We’ve had a bit of success with some of our other teams, we had the four netball premierships last year and our reserves have had a lot of success playing in the past five grand finals,” Evans said.

“We’ll give it a red hot crack.

“We match up well with Wy Yung, we know how good of a team they are but we hope to get over the line with the footy we’re playing.”

The Bombers know Wy Yung will start the game as favourites but with the team missing out on the premiership last year, in a similar position, the team will be hoping to put enough pressure on them to create nerves.

“Knowing that we will apply that physical pressure, I hope it is in the back of their mind and they have a second thought,” Evans said.

“We think they’ll come out swinging, so it will be a good challenge.

“If we get off to a good start and the boys play footy like they did last weekend, we’ll give it a hot crack.”

Wy Yung enter the grand final in a similar position to last year, the team with the best record.

Last year the team lost two games before the grand final before falling to Stratford.

This year, after only losing one game all season, which was to the Bombers, president Anthony Desio said while last year hurt there were plenty of lessons learned.

“Overall it was a good year, apart from the last half of the grand final, we had no bench after half time,” he said.

“This year, we’ve probably stepped up and we've recruited a couple of players.

“We still have the core group of players, they are all most under-21.”

While the team might be littered with youth, the team now has the experience of what it takes to not only play a grand final but potentially win one.

“A lot of the players last year had never played in a grand final.

“This year we have 16 or 17 players who have played a grand final or two.”

Desio said the focus would be on the team’s defence to get the club’s first premiership since 2015.

Wy Yung have had the best defence all year by quite a margin over the rest of the competition.

“We don’t concede many points,” Desio said.

“Our two wins (over the Bombers) we drive it off the back of our defence.

“We win the ball in the defence and counter-attack the ball into offence.

“We hope it is the same in the decider.”

Originally published as Millewa and East Gippsland leagues battle it out for supremacy