East Point toppled the might of Redan in the Ballarat Football League reserves grand final at the Eastern Oval on Saturday.
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The Kangaroos engineered a hard fought 42-point win victory over the Lions, whiho had won the previous four flags
East Point sealed the premiership with a dominant last term.
The Roos built a wall across half back, which Redan was simply unable to penetrate.
‘This kept the Lions to only one forward 50-metre entry for the first 15 minutes of the quarter and scoreless for its entirety.
East Point veteran Luke Faull collected the best on ground award with a strong display of midfield prowess, while also sneaking forward for an important goal in the first quarter.
The final score did not do justice to the ferocity and intensity of the first three terms, with each side exchanging the lead numerous times and bodies flying everywhere in a tough encounter.
After all this just one goal separated East Point and Redan at the last change.
From there the Roos’ deadly forward combination, led by Brad Whittaker (four goals), piled on five unanswered majors to put the game well and truly to bed.
East Point coach Shane Darroch, in his first premiership win in charge, said he was “extremely proud of the boys” in defeating the might of Redan.
“They [Redan] are obviously a great side having won the past four premierships and it was always going to be a tough game, but the boys did everything I asked them to.”.
He also said his motto for the year was to “make a statement”, something his charges certainly did.
“I told the boys at three quarter time that Redan would expect us to fade away and that we needed to find an extra gear and we did that well.”
Darroch also made mention of those who just missed out on playing.
“Those boys are as much a part of this as the ones on the field [and] we’ll all definitely enjoy this.”
The win also completed a premiership double East Point and Chris Banwell., who as playing in the reserves coached the under-18.5s to a grand final victory.
Redan’s Kyle Hayes, Liam Hunter and Jackson Kinna were among the Lions’ better players.
Sam Cooper and Angus Wright joined Faull as the Kangaroos’ better players with Ryan Walsh and Jason Delaney.
