Wedderburn’s victory adds to the clubs history, now winning the last three premierships and stamping themselves as one of the best teams in the history of the North Central Football League. Wedderburn has played in five grand finals since they broke their long drought of thirty seven years without a flag to claim victory on four occasions in 2007, 2011, 2012, and 2013.
Charlton who had been the pacesetters for the majority of the year were probably a bit stiff not to grab the major trophy and conclude their season on a high after leading the competition for the majority of the year. Charlton’s grand final appearance was their first finals series since 2009, the year they won their last premiership.
Saturday’s grand final lived up to all expectations, a large crowd, two good sides and a perfect day for footy. Wedderburn’s Ben Rose got the show off and running with the first goal of the match, Charlton’s Joe McGrath was quick to reply for the Navy Blues but from there on the major scoring in the first term virtually dried up until late in the quarter when McLean kicked Charlton’s second. The workload on both backlines was fierce as the ball rebounded between the respective half forward lines. Accuracy and possibly nerves probably contributed to the large amount of points kicked by the two teams in the opening term, with twelve points from fifteen scoring shots and at the first change the Navy Blues held a slender four point lead.
Wedderburn through Reiffel were first to score when he slotted through the Redbacks second goal. Herdman and Barnes were offering targets up forward but were unable to convert. Barnes finally got it right to kick the Redbacks third goal but it had taken till the fifteen minute mark of this term to see the league leading goal kicker record his first goal. Charlton then reclaimed the lead when Ben Roberts snapped a great goal. Thiesz extended Charlton’s lead when he took a strong mark and brought up full points. With half time approaching the Redbacks coach in Daniel Gash put the Redbacks back in the lead and at the main break they held a three point lead. Most would have expected that the scoreboard at half time would have looked a bit different than the low score’s which were posted for both sides, Wedderburn 4-11 to Charlton’s 4-8.
With only three points separating the two sides heading into the last two terms of the season, the crowd was expecting one of the two sides to open up a break but the pressure of the contest did not allow either side that luxury. Charlton hit the front when Kyriakides was free kicked; this started a goal for goal tussle with Barnes and Herdman scoring for the Redbacks. McGrath and Thiesz responded for the Navy Blues before the Redbacks reclaimed the lead with two late goals to Reiffel and McHugh to give them an eight point lead with a quarter to go but it was still anyone’s game.
Charlton reduced the margin back to two points early in the term before the Redbacks hit a purple patch with Barnes leading the charge kicking two of his three goals for the quarter, Herdman who was marking everything that came his way also got into the act as the Redbacks kicked away to a handy four goal lead and the premiership looked like it was heading to Wedderburn. Not to be outdone the Navy Blues rallied for one last effort and McKee after marking strongly kicked a much needed goal this was quickly followed by a goal to Kyriakides and the margin was back to two goals but time was going to be the enemy of the Navy Blues as it ticked deep into red time. Charlton cleared the ball from the centre and headed deep into their forward line only to be denied any further chances when the siren sounded to end the 2013 season giving Wedderburn, who came from fourth spot on the ladder, their third premiership in three years. While the scores were reasonable low this was a true reflection of the pressure both sides endured during the course of what was another magnificent North Central Grand Final played in front of a large crowd who paid over 30,000 to witness this great contest.
Final scores: Wedderburn 12-13=85 defeated Charlton 10-13=73
Best for Wedderburn: Brady Herdman, Riley McIvor, Rohan McHugh, Cam Perry, Daniel Gash, Adam Postle.
Goals: Sam Barnes 5, Brady Herdman, Marc Reiffel 2, Daniel Gash, Rohan McHugh, Ben Rose 1 each.
Best for Charlton: Kieran Sait, Matt Winsall, Carl Thiesz, Joe McLean, Luke Kyriakides and Rhys Thompson.
Goals: Joe McGrath 2, Luke Kyriakides, Reece Collins, Josh McKee, Joe McLean, Ben Roberts, Carl Thiesz, Daniel Thiesz and Ben Walklate 1 each.
Reserves
Donald claimed the reserves flag over St Arnaud when they were able establish a twenty eight point lead by half time. Held goalless in the third term Donald still had a comfortable buffer with a quarter to go and run out eventual winners by 29-points at full time.
Final scores: Donald 12-4=76 defeated St Arnaud 7-5=47
Under 16’s
In the closest contest of the day Boort won the Jeff “Woffa” Guild shield when they got there in the nick of time kicking a point to steal the game in the final seconds of the game. After trailing by three points at the last change St Arnaud put the pressure right back on to Boort and looked like they were about to cause an upset until that final point broke the deadlock to give the Magpies victory.
Final scores: Boort 8-8=56 defeated St Arnaud 8-7=55
Under 13’s
Birchip-Watchem won the North Central Shield in the under thirteens by defeating Donald by four goals. The Bull’s only lost the one game for the year and deserves to be crowned 2013 under 13’s premiers.
Final scores: Birchip-Watchem 4-8=32 defeated Donald 1-2=8
Last Modified on 24/09/2013 16:31