The Sydney Swans reserves caused a huge upset to win their fourth consecutive AFL Canberra premiership with a kick after the siren giving them a one-point victory over Belconnen at Manuka Oval yesterday.
The Sydney reserves were the underdogs heading into this year's grand final against a Magpies team which defeated them by 51 points in the major semi-final three weeks ago.
The average age of the team was 18 and they had just scraped through the preliminary final by a point.
But none of that counted at Manuka Oval yesterday.
Despite missing senior listed Sydney players Luke Brennan, Ben Mathews, Nic Fosdike and Heath Grundy and this year's new AFL Canberra rules that limited the Swans to 12-listed players in finals, Sydney fought back to win 11.4 (70) to 9.15 (69) when Matt Beckmans kicked a point after the siren.
Inaccuracy plagued Belconnen all season and yesterday it cost it the premiership when it kicked 2.8 in the third quarter.
Belconnen playing coach Steve Mahar said the Magpies' inaccuracy hurt at crucial times.
''Well, 9.15, if we had kicked 15.9 we would have won the game, we missed our opportunities,'' Mahar said.
Belconnen quickly extended its lead at the start of the final quarter to 22 points thanks to a Luke Jeffrey goal.
But Beckmans hit back with a goal from a set shot and when Swans NSW scholarship player Nathan Gordon kicked straight the margin was just 10 points.
The teams then went goal for goal with Belconnen keeping a seven-point lead, before Sydney big man Daniel Currie kicked a crucial goal to put his team one-point behind.
Gordon then had an easy chance to seal the win when running at an open goal, but kicked a behind to tie the scores.
Scores were locked at 69-all for four minutes before Beckmans marked.
After the siren sounded he kicked a behind, and the Swans started celebrating.
Swan Nick Smith was named best on ground, but his midfield partners in Ryan Brabazon and Aaron Bruce were also important and Peter Faulks was stellar in the Swans' defence.
''It was hard work for all the onballers out there [yesterday], it was just so heavy and we were down on numbers, but in the end I think that's what got us over the line,'' Smith said.
For Belconnen, onballers Ryan Turnbull and Luke Rhodes and defenders Scott Henning, Lexie Bennett, Paul Raadts and Nick Barton were best.
After winning their last three titles after undefeated seasons Smith said this year's win meant more.
''It's been a tough year and the restrictions made it a lot harder ... we worked really hard for this one,'' Smith said.
Despite the changes making things tougher for the Swans, coach Brett Allison believed they had to happen.
''We lost eight games this year and we really struggled to win in Canberra and to get two one-point results in Canberra, one to get us in the grand final and one to win and take the lead for the first time in the game after the siren, it was amazing,'' Allison said.
llllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllll llllllllllllllllAT A GLANCEAFL Canberra grand final: SYDNEY SWANS RESERVES 11.4 (70) bt BELCONNEN MAGPIES 9.15 (69) at Manuka Oval.