Teams enter grand final day full of excitement and anticipation, by day’s end, it is either agony or ecstasy.

And for Melton, it was agony in Saturday’s Ballarat Football League grand final.

Walking off Mars Stadium as East Point belted out another rendition of its theme song, entering the Bloods’ rooms, you could’ve heard a pin drop.

The deathly silence was deafening.

A few supporters shout encouragement towards the team – “we’re still proud of you, boys” – but it meant little as the players and coaches look to digest what was a shattering two-point loss to East Point, one that it led by as much as 29 points in the second quarter.

On face value, not many were hurting more than coach Aaron Tymms.

A somber figure made his way to the front of the group, surrounded by a strong Melton support crew.

The football cliche often goes ”one week at a time”, for Tymms, it was one sentence at a time as he battled back tears as he spoke to the players and supporters alike.

Tymms said how proud he was of his playing group and implored them to feel the sadness that befell them in that moment, but in time, reflect on what was a great season. One that saw them come from ninth spot in 2017 to a grand finalist.

Out on the ground, the emotion was written all over Tymms’ face as he stepped onto the dais as runner-up coach.

He paid credit to East Point coach Jake Bridges and his men as his group was left to reload for another tilt.

"I thought we were on top for a little bit there, but you managed to get back on top, fantastic effort,” Tymms said.

"We can be really proud of the year, we've just got to reload and go again.

"Hopefully, we can enjoy what was (a great year).”

Having had time to further reflect on the match, Tymm told The Courier on Sunday that the grand final had slipped away from Melton in the second quarter.

He said a failure to convert in attack had hurt. We kicked 1.5. We could have been seven or eight goals in front.”

Instead, Melton left the door open for East Point.

Tymms said then when East Point did get a run on and kick nine goals in the third term, the Bloods had been unable to stop the charge.

He said East Point took control at the stoppages and Melton was unable to get back in the contest quick enough.

Tymms said he had had sleepless Saturday night wondering what might have been – being just three points away from a premiership.

He said the players did show a lot of character to get back in the game late in the third term and then stay alive in the last quarter

This was Tymms’ first season as head coach after joining Melton last year as an assistant.

MELTON co-captain Ben Archard ran out of luck on the injury front on Saturday.

Archard had to battle to play after suffering a foot/ankle injury in the second semi-final against East Point.

Even with a two-week break it was a battle against time for one of the Bloods’ most valuable players to get on the park.

Archard started the grand final impressively enough, making a strong contribution as Melton led the way.

However, his luck did not hold out.

This time an injured knee in the third quarter brought his grand final  and season to all too sudden end.

Archard was not Melton’s only injury worry.

The Bloods also lost the hard-working Ryan Davis in the third quarter – cutting their interchange rotation options to two for more than term.

Davis began the day as well as anyone. He kicked Melton’s opening goal and kept busy.

The departure of Archard and Davis coincided with East Point’s charge back into the game and away to a decisive lead.

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