FOOTBALL
NORTH GIPPSLAND
By DAVID BRAITHWAITE
THE club that’s based in a small town and aimed big during the preseason has won the major prize.
Cowwarr won its first North Gippsland Football-Netball League senior football premiership since 2006 with a 35-point grand final victory over Woodside on Saturday.
The Saints trailed by nine points at quarter-time, before taking control of the contest at Traralgon, ending the Wildcats’ two-year reign with a 19.8 (122) to 13.9 (87) victory.
The Saints attracted attention during the off-season, recruiting Gippsland League talent Shannen Lange, Jack Johnstone, Tristan Waack and Sam Hallyburton. In order to sign these players, current players reportedly sacrificed match payments so the Saints could stay within the North Gippsland league’s $75,000 salary cap.
That move has paid off in spades, with the Saints able to gel together superbly, losing just one match this season on their way to claiming a sixth senior premiership in the North Gippsland league.
All four of the recruits were prominent in the grand final victory, with Lange winning the medal for best-on-ground for his performance which included three goals.
Lange, along with Waack, Johnstone and captain Ben Coffey were part of a formidable midfield brigade, with Haydn Hector linking with them off half-back.
As he had done all season, Keenan Hughes provided an energetic target in the forward line. Hughes booted five goals, taking him to 124 for the season.
The sun was out at Terry Hunter Oval, and so were the stars for what was a quality contest.
The Saints kicked the first goal of the match after two minutes, when Hallyburton gathered a kick into the forward line.
Three minutes later, the Wildcats were level again after a Cameron Whiteoak major, but the Saints were back in front soon after, thanks to a Lange goal from 50 metres out.
It was goal-for-goal in the first term, as Woodside coach Hudson Holmes kicked his side’s second following a free kick and 50m penalty.
After a point put the Wildcats in front, Brody Stainer kicked the ball to a leading Luke Johnson, whose goal extended the margin to seven points.
The gap was back to a point after the Saints worked the ball around, ending with a goal from Waack.
The Wildcats were having the better of the play early, and were making it hard for the Saints to get the ball through the centre. The Saints, however, were strong in defence, preventing major damage on the scoreboard.
Stainer kicked the first of this three goals late in the first term to give the Wildcats a nine-point advantage at quarter-time.
The Saints began the second quarter in spectacular fashion, with goals from Hughes, Lange and Caleb Michie within three minutes turning a nine-point deficit into a nine-point lead. Quick ball movement out the centre was proving difficult for the Wildcats to handle.
When Michie gathered a kick from Waack to boot his second goal, the Saints were 15 points ahead approaching the 10-minute mark, before Liam Hard kicked a much-need goal for the Wildcats from the boundary.
The margin was back to 15 points when Goanar Ruach set-up Lachlan Sykes’ goal.
The Saints missed chances to take the match away from the Wildcats, before Hard kicked a goal to bring the margin back to 12 points. The gap was back to 18 after Lange gathered the loose ball and sent it to Ruach.
A goal from Stainer kept the Wildcats in touch, but late goals from Hallyburton and Waack saw the Saints take a 24-point lead into halftime.
Beginning the third term four goals down, the Wildcats needed to lift when play resumed.
Hard and Daniel Missen combined to get the ball to Holmes, who was sent to the goal square after a 50m penalty was awarded, with the goal cutting the margin back to 18 points. Zac Richards had the chance to kick the Wildcats’s fourth goal of the third term, but his kick hit the post.
After taking a big mark, Hughes played on to kick a goal for the Saints.
Jeremy Morgan kicked a goal for the Wildcats midway through the quarter, before missing a chance to boot another soon after.
Approaching time-on, Hughes kicked another major, this time from the boundary.
Hard booted a goal for Woodside, before another major from the boundary, this time from Lange saw the midfielder pump up the Cowwarr faithful watching nearby.
Hughes was awarded a free kick, with the subsequent goal taking the Saints out to a 28-point lead at three-quarter-time.
With the Saints appearing to have one hand on the premiership cup, the Wildcats weren’t going to give up without a fight. Goals from Holmes and Hard had the deficit back to 16 points within two minutes of playing resuming.
The Saints were able to settle, with goals from Johnstone and Brady Wood.
While the Wildcats were able to kick another goal, the Saints finished strongly, with majors from Mitch McMaster and Hughes.
Having won the previous two grand finals, beatening the more favoured Traralgon Tyers United in both, Woodside was not daunted by the propect to taking on Cowwarr. Afterall, the Wildcats were the only side to have defeated the Saints in 2026.
The gallant Wildcats ensured the Saints earned the premiership, with Jeremy Morgan, Robert Michaelides, Luke Johnson, Rowan Missen, Joh Fythe and Ryan Foat among many of their players who were outstanding.
But to the victor go the spoils, and a celebration 20 years in the making.
