The Under 16 Grand Final was between City Juniors, undefeated all seaosn and looking for their first Club Premiership, and West End, looking to go back to back Premiers.
West End won the toss and kicked to the Loy Yang Power end of the ground. It was City Juniors that were first into attack and score a goal, as coach Jeff Beaver obviously had the players ready to go. It wasn't long after, that the ball was again in City's forward line, where Jake Green showed his strength to take a greta pack mark from behind, and kick his team's second goal of the quarter. West End hit back through Connor Cook, who demonstrated his footy smarts by creating some time for himself, before steadying and kicking a lovely banana to get West End's first major of the game. Nathan Robinson was everywhere at the start, and another barnstorming effort saw him force the ball forward and with a check side kick, found Jake Green again who won himself a free kick within scoring range, and kicked truly for his second. The ball was travelling up both ends of the ground, but it was City Juniors taking most advantage as, a further two goals, one to Jackson Beani, and the League's Leading Goalkicker for the year in this age group, Shane Kosterman getting one for West End prior to quarter time, it meant that we could expect a good contest. City lead at quarter time 5-1 to 2-2.
Jake Green kicked his side's first goal after the restart with the aid of a fifty metre penalty from 45 metres out and extend their lead. Ben Davis for West End was proving a handful for the City defence, as he was able to make something out of nothing through his sheer determination and kick his first for the game. A highlight of this quarter was the specky of Ben Coffey on the outer wing, demonstrating his aerial skills. The resultant forward movement saw Ben Davis notch his second major of the quarter. The City Juniors players seemed to lift their tempo after this goal, as the ball would match of the remainder of the quarter in their forward line, and if not for the efforts of Ryan Frith and Josh Dyer, City might have scored more than two goals in this period and the game been over by half time. At the long break, City's lead was 57 to 28.
The start of the third quarter reinforced the quality in both teams, as it was a hard fought contest with neither team able to take full control. Connor Allen scored the first goal of the third quarter, and was soon followed up by a good mark to Justin Dalla Bona who also goaled, extending the lead to 7 goals. Ben Davis for West End popped up again with the ball and finsihed some good work by his team's mid field to score his third goal of the game, and not long after, Shane Kosterman was unlucky to score after some good work further up field by Sam Clavarino. Just before three quarter time, Nic Berryman crumbed a marking contest, and sent a pass to a team mate and resulted in another goal, giving them what was thought to be a winning margin of 44 points with one quarter to go.
With the opening two goals to Jake Green and Dylan Higginbottom of City Juniors in the last quarter, many would have thought that West End might have capitulated. This was not to be and they were not finished, as they fought back to score the next two goals through Ben Davis thanks to the efforts up field by his team mates, Peter Harasimiuk, Will Lowe and Shaun Leahy. With the final few minutes left, City Juniors left no doubt why they were the best team in the competition this season, with efforts from players such as Jordyn Gilroy and Kayan Bundle continuously sending the ball forward and creating opportunities for their players to score, which saw them finish of the game with the last four goals to Brendan Greaves, Dylan Murphy, Connor Allen and Jake Green kicking the final goal of the game as the siren sounded. City Juniors winning, 18-8-116 to West End's 8-5-53.
It was a well deserved win and taking nothing away from West End who never gave up all day, but City Juniors, who most of them started in the Under 10s and and have come through the competition, it was a fitting reward for them, as most will be moving onto Senior clubs within the district in 2012, so a greta way to finish their careers in the TDJFL!
Best on Ground as judged by the Umpires - Jordyn Gilroy, City Juniors
Best Players
City Juniors - Great Team Effort, as highlighted that they had 11 goal kickers for the game!
West End - Ben Davis, Ryan Frith, Ben Coffey, Connor Cook, Will Lowe & Peter Harasimiuk
Last Modified on 05/09/2011 12:25