Win every quarter, win the game. This is how East Point took out the Ballarat Football League under-18.5 grand final at the Eastern Oval on Saturday.
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East Point increased its lead at every change and withstood a mini North Ballarat City fight back in the final term to take the premiership by 36 points – 12.7 (79) to 6.7 (43).
The Kangaroos were always a step ahead of City, boasting cleaner ball use while also showing much more pace.
Josh and Ryan Thompson each played effective roles up forward, while Joe Dodd showed his class in the midfield.
In a final ditch effort to get some momentum heading the way of North Ballarat, captain Matt Geary was sent deep forward to try to get the big man into the game.
He was able to convert a goal early in the last quarter and create a run on for the Northies, but he then missed a gettable opportunity shortly after which seemed to suck any remaining confidence out of his side.
While elated with his first premiership during his time at East Point, coach Chris Banwell conceded that things did not exactly go to script.
“Ideally it probably wasn’t our best footy for the year, but when it comes to a grand final we just have to have as many boys up as we can and fortunately today we kicked straight enough early on which put us in the box seat for the second half.
“We lose half of our side so it’s now about bringing up those lower half players to make sure they are picking up where the older guys left off.”
