Ballarat Grammar relishes being the ‘hunter’ to win Head of the Lake

Grammar embraced its underdog status and knew it would be in contention if it rowed to the best of its ability.

Coach Bill Gribble was happy to enter the race as the "hunter", eager to be hot on tails of Loreto.

Gribble had full confidence the crew was capable of winning the Head of the Lake and that confidence was justified.

READ MORE: St Pat’s completes back-to-back Head of the Lake titles

The conditions were certainly difficult, with wind speeds exceeding 45km/h just after 12pm, which is when the girls hit the water after a delay.

Grammar, Loreto and Damascus College were evenly poised entering the 1500m, but the last 500m belonged to Grammar as it stormed away to win by seven seconds. Loreto fell to third as Damascus finished strongly.

READ MORE: See all the finish line photos

The commanding back-end to the race came as no surprise to Gribble, who knew its strongest leg would be the final 500m.

"When I saw them come through that 1500 metre-mark I was really confident that they would hold-on and no one would catch us," Gribble said.

"I always say to them, I'd rather go in to a race not being the target.

"Loreto were the target, they were the inform crew, they were the ones we had to beat. I would rather go in as the hunter rather than the hunted. I had every belief leading into this Head of the Lake that we were capable of winning.”

READ MORE: See all the results and finish line videos

Sunday was Gribble’s 20th Head of the Lake and he has been in charge of the girls’ firsts since 2007. And he used all those years of experience to make a bold call two weeks out from the race.

In a bid to maximise power and strength across the whole boat, Gribble proposed tandem rigging the boat which allowed Isabella Conheady (two seat) and Jess Mahony (bow) to swap oar sides, remaining in the same seats, which proved a masterstroke.

"By doing that I was able to get the perfect match of power in the boat...we had two weeks before the Head of the Lake, we thought the girls would have time to adjust which they've done so.

"It was a bit of a punt...I did it believing it would be the difference between winning and losing – and it's turned out to be.”

READ MORE: See the colour and atmosphere

The passionate coach has enjoyed plenty of successful Head of the Lake campaigns, but this one was something special.

"I've won a few Head of the Lakes, but this one has something special about it.”

Gribble said while the conditions were not ideal, all crews had to deal with the challenge.