North Central: Calder United creates history with 10-point win against Birchip-Watchem in grand final
History has repeated after 61 years as merged club Calder United claims an extraordinary premiership despite losing four key players during the grand final.
Calder United has repeated what Wycheproof-Narraport did more than six decades ago and won a North Central league flag in the first season as a merged club.
In 1964, Wycheproof and Narraport merged and won the first of a record 19 premierships before joining forces with its Calder Highway near neighbour, Nullawil, and creating what could become another on field powerhouse.
Calder United beat Birchip-Watchem by 10 points in the grand final at Wedderburn on Saturday.
Des Darcy Medal winner for best-on-ground, Steve Kennedy, kicked the Lions’ only goal of the final term to inflict more grand final heartache on the Bulls, who had not lost a game this season until losing to Calder United in the second semi-final.
The Lions’ first flag will be forever remembered for overcoming injuries to four key players including co-coach Jordy Humphreys, who went down with a hamstring injury in the first quarter when Birchip-Watchem started brilliantly into the breeze.
Century goalkicker Ben Edwards sparked the Bulls into action with the first two goals of the match and when he kicked another late in the term, Birchip-Watchem held a 20-point lead.
Calder United still trailed by 12 points at halftime with an injury toll starting to climb.
Star midfielder Matt Wade (calf) and back-up ruckman Matthew Trzeciak (quad) were battling when Calder United suffered another major loss early in the last quarter.
Key forward Dale Pearce, who joined the Lions before the June 30 clearance deadline, went down with a hamstring injury.
The former SANFL player had kicked 1.5 when forced from the ground and the Bulls making a charge with the first two goals of the final term to Tom Gibson and Meyrick Buchanan to cut the margin to three points.
Kennedy saved the day for the Lions with his set shot from 40m out in the final quarter, which will also be remembered for the brilliant high mark taken by teammate Rylee Smith on the top of a big pack of players.
Edwards kicked five goals before halftime, but his direct opponent Oscar Madden and the rest of the Lions’ defence conceded only three goals in the second half.
“Our blokes just kept fighting and fighting,” Calder United co-coach Darryl Wilson said.
“There were moments when we weren’t sure, but we’re happy with the result.
“We knew from the second semi that we fired them up a bit and put a poison in them.”
Wilson, who previously coached flags in the Heathcote District and Bendigo leagues, won’t be coaching Calder United next season, but departs with a permanent place in the club’s history.
His co-coaching counterpart Humphreys is staying on in 2026.
“It’s the perfect start to a new club,” Humphreys said.
“We just had to do the work and we’ve done that since January.
“It’s a dream come true.”
Rick Allan, who took on the presidency of the merged club, and also played in the history-making flag.
He had played in four flags and five losing grand finals for Wycheproof-Narraport before Saturday’s win.
Boe Bish and George Turner also played in Wycheproof-Narraport’s last flag in 2018.
“It’s been a big couple of years merging two clubs and the emotions that brings with it,” Allan said.
“To stand here with a seconds and seniors premiership is difficult to describe.
“Birchip is a great side and we’ve known that all year.
“They got the jump on us and probably shows the character of the two communities.
“The resilience to stick at it and grind away and slowly get there in the end.”
The merger was driven by a dwindling number of junior players and Matt Wade took on the additional job coaching the Lions’ under 17s.
He was a Central Murray league star before joining Nullawil and had not played in a grand final for 15 years when he won a flag with Nar Nar Goon.
“The talent in the top end of the footy up here is next level,” Wade said.
“There are a lot of talented footballers and big bodies, and when the game is on it’s a great competition to play in.
“Even when we were losing players we had such a team effort to get us over the line.”
The policeman is returning to Gippsland for work.
Birchip-Watchem key defender Ben Lakin had the better of Pearce to be the Bulls’ best player and Meyrick Buchanan and Nic Rippon were also major contributors.
Birchip-Watchem has lost five of their last six grand finals since 2017.
“The reality is we weren’t quite good enough,” Bulls coach Ash Connick said.
“They were fantastic and a great character win by them.
“We’ve just got to get better.
“We probably didn’t ram home the advantage we had in the second quarter.”
MATCH DETAILS
CALDER UNITED 3.2 5.5 10.9 11.14 (80)
BIRCHIP-WATCHEM 5.3 7.5 8.7 10.10 (70)
Goals: CALDER UNITED: Z. Keighran 2, R. Smith 2, S. Kennedy 2, R. Allan, K. Lloyd, M. Farmer, D. Pearce, M. Wade. BIRCHIP-WATCHEM: B. Edwards 5, T. Gibson 2, M. Buchanan, L. Foott, M. Rippon
Best: CALDER UNITED: S. Kennedy, Z. Caccaviello, R. Smith, K. Lloyd, K. Hommelhoff, D. Watts. BIRCHIP-WATCHEM: B. Lakin, M. Buchanan, B. Edwards, N. Rippon, H. Hosking, L. Ryan
Gate: $45,600 (record) at Wedderburn
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