Sport
17 September, 2024
Swans stun in stylish premiership win over Saints
NATTE BEALIBA 20.10 (130) def TRENTHAM 7.9 (51)
In a team full of maestros, Natte Bealiba put together their masterpiece for the grandest stage yet, demolishing Trentham by 79 points in an exceptional display of high-octane, offensive football.
The Swans’ third senior football premiership since joining the Maryborough Castlemaine District Football Netball League, and seventh overall, brought with it the highest grand final winning score since Harcourt’s 21.7 (133) in 2007.
It was the quintessential team effort from the Swans — the only difficulty was working out which one was best-on-ground, which could have been raffled between a handful of players. In the end, that went to Will Cameron — his skillset across midfield the ticket for the Swans’ dominance.
After a dry-wet start to grand final day, conditions improved immeasurably for the grand decider, yet there was one big variable — a fierce breeze that favoured the netball court end.
Nevertheless, that didn’t deter Natte, nor captain Jye Mortlock, who was more than delighted to win the coin toss and kick with the breeze, and the Swans made hay.
It would take four minutes for the Swans to hit the scoreboard, coming through Jai Howell, who scored from a great snap.
The Swans were asking all the questions early on, and peppered the goals. Three behinds in six minutes would be the result before Will Holt soon scored their second goal, and when Mortlock intercepted an errant Trentham kick across goal two minutes later, Princes Park, and the bevy of Swans supporters that were on hand, was rocking.
Natte would finish the quarter with a strong flurry, with Holt kicking his second goal after 17 minutes, before Jayden Templeton sharked a ruck contest inside 50 to snap another terrific goal. Natte lead at quarter time, 5.5 (35) to 0.2 (2).
It looked as though the Saints were up for the challenge with the wind in the first four minutes of the second quarter, with Jake Keogh kicking the first of the term, before Sam Kelly would keep the fire burning with another set shot goal.
But then, up stepped Howell from the resultant centre bounce for one of the great grand final goals.
Ordinarily, any goal would have done for the Swans against the breeze, but Howell’s effort saw him take the ball out of the centre after some good ruck work from Austin McKenzie, take two bounces, before finishing strongly. In the context of the game — with Trentham asking serious questions at the time — it was a hammer blow.
Trent Mortlock was next up, kicking a goal from a set shot, before Templeton kicked his second goal, and the margin was suddenly out to 40 points.
Taylor Ford kept the slightest glimmer of hope alive for Trentham just before the break with a great goal from the flank, but it seemed there was an air of inevitability with the Swans doing a sterling job against the breeze, leading 8.7 (55) to 3.5 (23) at the main break.
The Swans were keen to maximise their potential with the wind to make sure they would land the cup, and four goals early in the term would do the trick. Templeton kicked his third, Jye and Trent hit the scoreboard with their second each, and Aaron Hayes put the cherry on top with a big intercept mark, followed by an equally big goal from just on 50.
Joel Dovaston would get the Saints on the board for the term against the breeze with a goal to reduce the margin to 51 points.
However, the Swans would soon have their supporters in raptures with a red-hot six minute spell which yielded four goals.
It seemed to be a habit that the Swans’ best passages of the day were sparked by a terrific Howell goal, and his third — which saw him launch from 60 metres — was the firestarter that brought about the start of a red and white tsunami.
Templeton’s fourth goal immediately followed from a snap, before Chris Dellavedova kicked a much-celebrated goal from an intercept, before bouncing one through from perhaps even further than Howell’s goal just minutes earlier.
Templeton’s fifth meant the margin suddenly ballooned to 75 points.
Kelly kicked his second goal for the Saints, but it was evident that the final quarter was a matter of playing out time, with the Swans leading 16.10 (106) to 5.7 (37).
The Saints were keen to make the last term a good one from a scoreboard perspective, and started positively with James Regan finally getting the better of Jake Postle for his first goal of the afternoon.
But this was a red-and-whitewash. Howell added his fourth soon after, before McKenzie drifted forward and added another.
Stephen Ross, in his 369th game, simply showed no signs of slowing down, and his goal from the pocket brought the house down as the margin was a game-high 80 points.
Regan added his second, but it was the Swans’ day, and fittingly, just as he had started it, Cameron finished it with a great curling effort, the final goal of the season, the final say of a season dominated by Natte from start to finish.