Seniors
The Outer East football competition finished up on Saturday with the Premier Division Grand Finals, which were played at Officer.
The ground was in perfect order and bright sunny conditions with a slight breeze greeted players and spectators alike.
An unusual feature of the day was that parking in the ground was not permitted.
This resulted in the majority of the crowd gathering on the western side of the ground, by the change rooms, while the outer was only sparsely populated.
Narre Warren had looked unstoppable for most of the year and were looking to win their third successive Outer East flag, having also won in 2019 and 2022, either side of the cancelled Covid affected seasons.
Their only loss this year had been to Wandin back in Round 2, while two weeks ago they only just defeated Wandin by 3 points in the Semi Final. Wandin had lost just twice in the home and away series and their narrow recent loss to Narre Warren gave them the belief that they could match the Magpies juggernaut.
A close Grand Final was anticipated.
Wandin did all the attacking in the opening 10 minutes to score two goals and hold a 16-0 lead.
Narre Warren then got their game plan going and rattled on 4 quick goals before the Bulldogs replied with the last two of the term to take a 4 point lead at quarter time.
The second quarter was a tight arm wrestle with both sides adding three goals until late in time on when Wandin ran amok and kicked 4 goals in about as many minutes to stun the Magpies and take a surprise 29 point lead into the long break.
Wandin stretched their lead to over 40 points before Narre Warren pegged them back but ultimately there was nothing between the teams in the third quarter as they both added 3.3 to their respective tallies and the margin remained unchanged.
Early in the last quarter Narre Warren attacked early but successive shots hit the post and they were unable to make any impression on the scoreboard.
With the Magpies tiring, Wandin sensed that their lead was a match winning one and ran all over their opponents in the final 20 minutes to kick 7 goals for the quarter and register a most emphatic 63 point win.
Former North Melbourne forward Aaron Mullett finished the day with 6 goals for Wandin while another ex-AFL player, Joel Garner, who had since returned from a stint at Port Adelaide also slotted through a couple.
The Bulldogs were able to restrict the influence of some of Narre’s star onballers such as League Best & Fairest Tom Miller, Tom Toner and ex-West Coast Eagle Kurt Mutimer, which went a long way to ensuring the win.
During the year Narre Warren and Pakenham had explored joining a proposed expansion of the Mornington Peninsula League but the clubs there vetoed the move so both sides are set to remain.
The Outer East has already announced that it will revert to two divisions next year as it looks towards the structure of the competition going forward and considers the feedback received from clubs.
Wandin 21.15.141 def Narre Warren 11.12.78
Best: Wandin – Cody Hirst, Patrick Hodgett, Aaron Mullett, Chayce Black, Joel Garner, Patty Bruzzese
Narre Warren – Cameron Miller, Brad Scalzo, Travis Callahan, Peter Gentile, Jesse Davies, Joel Zietsman
Goals: Wandin – Aaron Mullett 6, Patrick Hodgett 5, Clinton Johnson 3, Joel Garner 2, Connor Smith 1, Daniel Hirst 1, Brodie Atkins 1, Cody Hirst 1, Jordan Jaworski 1
Narre Warren – Will Howe 3, Corey Bader 2, Peter Gentile 1, Tom Toner 1, Jesse Davies 1, Harrison Brain 1, Tom Miller 1, Riley Siwes 1
Reserves
Narre Warren and Upwey-Tecoma had been the dominant teams over the season in the Reserves, finishing well clear of the rest.
The quality of football that they had displayed during the year was not on show early as the match was a scrappy affair with the backlines of both sides dominating proceedings.
Each side managed just 2 goals to half time in the ideal conditions.
The match never rose to any great heights in the second half but Narre Warren looked better for longer and did enough to clinch the premiership for 2023.
Narre Warren 7.7.49 def Upwey-Tecoma 4.11.35
Best: Narre Warren – Matthew Butera, Grant Mitchell, Ethan French, Thomas Russell, Jett Kearney, Alexander Nunziante-Sweeney
Upwey-Tecoma – Lachie McGill, Nathan Beacom, Jackson Hannagan, Jordan Tailby, Ethan Wright, Mitch Stokes
Goals: Narre Warren – Jett Kearney 3, Bailey Howarth 1, Nicholas Mashado 1, Nathan Power 1, Matthew Whitehead 1
Upwey-Tecoma – Blake Burrows 1, Liam Comber 1, Dylan Comber 1, Connor Morton 1
Under 19s
The Grand Final of the Under 19s was contested between two evenly matched sides in Narre Warren and Upwey-Tecoma.
Both sides had a mix of good talls and ball users and they put on an entertaining display showcasing some of the future players of the competition.
Nothing separated these sides for most of the match as first Narre Warren grabbed a slight lead, before the Tigers edged ahead by 2 points at half time.
The Magpies held a 2 point lead at three-quarter time and eventually won by 8 points as Upwey were left to rue missing a few gettable shots for goal.
This might have been the last Under 19s Grand Final as the League contemplates reverting back to Under 18s as too few clubs are able to muster a team in this age group.
Narre Warren 8.6.54 def Upwey-Tecoma 6.10.46
Best: Narre Warren – Daniel Toner, Jacob Mutimer, Luca Pascuzzi, Sam Wellwood, Alex Dawson, Riley Curran
Upwey-Tecoma – not recorded
Goals: Narre Warren – Sam Toner 4, Sam Wellwood 1, Mitch Toner 1, Brice L’etang 1, Daniel Toner 1
Upwey-Tecoma – not recorded
