Picola District: Waaia wins 13th flag with easy win against Katandra

Waaia silenced the “doubters” in emphatic fashion by winning a grand final that had drama before a ball had been bounced.

Waaia stamped itself as the most successful club of the current crop in the Picola District league with a dominant 44-point win against Katandra in the grand final at Rennie on Saturday.

The Bombers pieced together a third successive premiership to be only one shy of equalling their four-in-a-row that started in 1989 and included the famous after the siren goal the following year.

But, importantly, the latest triumph was its 13th flag to move one clear of Picola United and was achieved in front of a record crowd that paid $43,000 in gatetakings.

Waaia has won its premierships against different opponents, Tungamah, Strathmerton and Katandra, with the latest victory well in hand at halftime when it led by 27 points.

Katandra’s Talon Wilson rises over Waaia coach Mitch Cleeland in the grand final. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

But coach Mitch Cleeland, who has coached the premiership hat-trick, said the victory was particularly sweet to silence a “few doubters”.

Waaia lost its star ruckman of the previous two years, Ash Holland, back to Shepparton Bears in the Goulburn Valley league, but still finished the home and away rounds in third place.

“It’s a bit of a relief now to be honest,” Cleeland said.

“I’m ecstatic.

“We just had a few doubters this year.

“To prove those doubters wrong and get through a finals series and have another win is a great feeling.”

Waaia beat the two teams to finish above it on the ladder in the finals, Katamatite and Strathmerton, and had no shortage of stars in the grand final.

Waaia’s Dustin Blake celebrates an early goal in the grand final. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Waaia captain Jesse Trower won the best-on-ground medal, Cleeland was a star across halfback and up for Connor Brown finished with four goals after taking some strong marks in the forward 50m.

Waaia kicked three goals either side of halftime with Brown booting two in the third term when the Bombers took even an even bigger stranglehold on the match.

“We were just a bit sloppy with the footy on the first touch early,” Cleeland said.

“As soon as were able to clean that up a bit, we were able to get our flow going a bit more and the game opened up for us a bit.

“All we needed was 22 players prepared to play their role and we had that today.”

Katandra which had not won a flag for two decades, suffered a major blow before the match.

Katandra’s Ryleigh Shannon dislocated his knee running onto ground before the start of the grand final. Picture Yuri Kouzmin

Midfielder Ryleigh Shannon dislocated his knee when he slipped and fell running onto the ground.

Picola District league rules allow for a player to be replaced when injured before the match with the approval of the opposing team and umpires.

Shannon was substituted by a player who had just played in the reserves grand final which ended with Katandra also going down to Tungamah.

In a further blow, small forward, Mitch Black, hurt his heel in the opening minutes.

“We are pretty disappointed,” Katandra coach Jason Whittaker said.

“We didn’t feel we were far off early in the match and just needed to improve in a couple of areas.

“But we couldn’t quite do it.

“They denied us how we wanted to play the game, so full credit to them.

“But the scoreline shows it is a pretty fair margin.”

Katandra’s Josh Kezerle was the Kats’ best player with four goals when they could manage only five for the match.

But his day ended prematurely when he was yellow-carded for a late bump on a Waaia opponent in the final quarter.

Co-captain Mitch McGrath, who finished third in the Pearce Medal count, and defenders Jye Limosani and Jarrod Newman worked overtime defending the territory ascendancy of their opponents.

Whittaker said Katandra had “limped into finals” with the loss of another key player Seb Fernandez, who finished fourth in the Pearce Medal, another late-season injury setback.

“We seemed to lose a bit of connectivity over the ground.

“We rarely had our full side available so they were a few factors in play.”

Whittaker said the pre-match injury to Shannon “certainly didn’t help”.

“I was just disappointed for him,” he said.

“He had worked so hard all year like they all had.

“He was in a lot of pain.”

MATCH DETAILS

WAAIA 2.5 6.7 11.9 12.9 (81)

KATANDRA 1.4 2.4 3.6 5.7 (37)

Goals: WAAIA: C. Brown 4, C. Burrows 2, H. Walker 2, D. Blake, J. Trower, S. Trower, J. Carpenter. KATANDRA: J. Kezerle 4, C. Hickford.

Best: WAAIA: J. Trower, M. Cleeland, B. Brown, H. Walker, J. Carpenter, K. Johnston. KATANDRA: J. Kezerle, M. McGrath, J. Limosani, J. Newman, H. Cook, L. Moroney.