By Jonty Ralphsmith
A generation of success has seen Cranbourne celebrate a slew of reunions in recent years.
For some time, the reserves and under-18s have been informally asking the question of whether the Eagles can expand their celebrations to teams beyond the firsts.
On Saturday, the emotion fuelled 2001 reserves premiership was marked, the 55-point grand final win coming two weeks after the death of teammate Travis Lee.
“With what happened, we were never going to lose,” said coach Steve ‘Boofa’ Culton.
“It was heartbreaking for all the boys, he was the heart and soul of the joint.”
“He was a fringe player but he’d always come to training.
“He was there whether he played or not, he always turned up.
“He was an honest kid.”
The funeral service was held on the Thursday before the grand final, after he passed away following the two-point semi final win over Seaford.
After narrowly defeating Seaford in their three meetings through the year, destiny always looked like being realised on grand final day.
A strong start saw the hosts skip out to an early lead and they never looked back, winning their 13th consecutive match, with their late mate front of mind.
“Before the game we had a photo of him in the rooms and halftime was emotional,” Culton said.
“At three quarter time, we held his photo up at the huddle and we wore black arm bands.
“As soon as the siren went, we didn’t have a shower.
“We took the medal and a slab of beer and walked from the racecourse (oval) to the cemetery and sat at his grave and had a beer there.”
The final, fitting tearjerker of the day was Lee’s best mate Troy Datson being awarded the best afield medal for his shutdown role in the backline.
Lee played a series of games throughout the year and was an integral part of the direction the club was looking to take.
“We always used to say you would get dropped to the ones!” Culton quipped, tongue-in-cheek, noting the seniors won only four games for the year.
“We played a different brand of footy, it was handball at all costs, rely on your mates.
“It was a really amazing year.”
