By Marcus Uhe
Narre Warren Football Netball Club will leave Outer East Netball (OEFN) with three premierships from the four completed seasons after a stunning performance in Saturday’s Premier Division grand final at Rob Porter Recreation Reserve.
The 40-point win over Wandin, powered by a lightning start out of the blocks, washed away any bad memories of the same afternoon 12 months prior with an emphatic wire-to-wire result confirming its status as the best team in the competition this year, the final score reading 14.10 94 to 7.12 54.
Manic pressure when the Bulldogs had the ball and composure when they didn’t were the keys to the result, limiting Wandin’s ability to dominate in open spaces and bring their foot skills to the fore.
Wandin looked nervous, uncharacteristically sloppy with ball in hand and hesitant to take on the big moments.
Macauley Beckwith passed off a chance to kick the opener but kicked to the wrong Johnson, Aaron Mullett looked to nail a long goal but was wide of the mark and Patrick Hodgett was beaten in a one-on-one marking contest with Joel Zietsman, with Narre Warren looking to make a strong start and snuff out an early attack.
The Magpies, prone to slow starts in the second half of the year, made a focus of starting the better of the two sides, and eventually kicked the first of the afternoon nine minutes in through Brayden Sharp.
A free kick for a sling tackle and some physical back-and-forth after the whistle saw Sharp taken to the edge of the goal square, where he made no mistake from a simple shot.
Peter Gentile kicked the next a minute later, springing free from the defensive side of a forward 50 stoppage to open his account, before adding another after some strong work in the middle from Tom Toner.
All of a sudden Narre Warren had a 19-point lead, and Wandin looked bereft of scoring options, much like the second half of their round 15 epic in early August.
Wandin needed a reply, and found one through Daniel Hirst after Josh West lost his footing in a marking contest, but Narre Warren hit back with two in three minutes that grew the lead to 24 points.
Hamish West was in the right place at the right time after a forward 50 scrounge saw the ball land in his hands at the teeth of goal, followed by Hayden Dwyer’s contested mark and goal from a tight angle deep in the forward line that showed the Magpies meant business.
Jordan Jaworski looked to ignite Wandin with some trademark run and carry through the middle of the ground, with Brodie Atkins the beneficiary deep in attack, but it was Sam Johnson’s extraordinary stoppage goal late in the term from the left forward pocket that shaped as a bad omen for the Magpies.
Running at pace into the left forward pocket, Johnson threw the ball onto his left foot and watched in disbelief as the kick floated through.
When Mullett missed a running chance from in close at the other end of the ground, Wandin’s cards appeared marked, and a 23-point deficit at the first break made for disappointing reading.
Wandin needed a huge response coming out of the first break, but none came, as the game entered an awkward stalemate with neither side able to score.
Sharp-shooters at both ends, in Will Howe and Patrick Hodgett both missed chances as Trent Papworth rediscovered his intercepting game after playing just the first half of the semi-final.
Toner broke the deadlock, 15 minutes into the quarter, as Wandin’s physicality got the better of them again.
Brad Scalzo hooked a kick from the pocket back to the goal square and was put down after his kick, gifting Toner a shot from directly in front.
Wandin appeared likely to go goalless in the quarter, but Johnson finally found his radar and kicked truly deep into time on.
Papworth had been dragged away from the defensive goal square and his lack of aerial presence gave Johnson a free run and jump at the footy, a chance he converted.
Narre Warren defenders Tom Russell and Declan Brown both appeared to sustain injuries in separate collisions late in the half, but a four-goal buffer at the half gave the Magpies a critical edge.
Knowing Wandin would tire in the second half on a six-day break and with two extra games in their legs in the last month, the lead at the long break was vital in keeping the Bulldogs at bay.
But Wandin never lost belief at the long break.
Coach, Nick Adam bemoaned his side’s execution, but took solace in only being four goals behind.
Needing a fast start to the second term to reel the Magpies in, they faltered at the very first challenge, when a downfield free kick against Wandin from the first centre clearance allowed Howe to find his range, and push the lead to 30 in a flash.
Wandin pressed, but a trio of misses from Johnson, Jaworski and Atkins, let Narre Warren off the hook.
Hodgett and Jaworski then each goaled within 60 seconds of each other to cut the lead to 15, and the murmurs around the venue suggested a comeback might be brewing.
But Toner would provide the answer to cut their momentum short, nailing a long set shot with a post-high kick from 50 out that cracked like a cannon off his boot.
A pair of goals to Dwyer deep in time on exposed the Bulldogs for height, and saw Narre Warren take a 33-point lead into the last break.
There was great energy at the final huddle from the Magpies, but not enough to suggest any arrogance – they knew they still had a quarter to play.
Wandin threw its big names into the first centre bounce but it yielded little in the way of results.
Dwyer continued to outreach the Wandin defence and kicked his fourth of the afternoon to open the final term, stretching the lead to a game-high 39 points following a huge contested mark.
Johnson pulled one back for Wandin midway through the quarter, but the mooted celebrations suggested a sense of resignation from his teammates.
Toner would kick two more to finish the afternoon, to give himself a bag of four, cracking open a can in celebration to get the party started, before he was crowned best player on the ground.
Scalzo was chaired off the ground by his teammates, bidding farewell to the football club after a glittering career.
Right from the first moment, Narre Warren’s pressure was through the roof, and they never let Wandin settle, exorcising the demons of 2023 in emphatic fashion.
Premiership winning coach Steven Kidd planned the attack down to a tee, and finished the afternoon as a premiership coach.
“We knew they liked to score off turnover, so we tried to restrict that,” he said of the approach.
“We spoke about staying skinny side and controlling the ball when we had a chance.
“We trained it all year; the game plan was, number one option is always to go quick, but number two was control the footy, and number three was quicker too; kick down the line and get numbers.
“Against Wandin, we always thought quick isn’t so much what we want, but let’s control it, keep it off them, keep it out of their hands.
“If we’re going to turn it over, we’re going to turn it over skinny side, so we can defend.
“I spoke about manning the mark well, pushing back, the forwards rolling up.
“Sometimes we rolled up too high and had nothing to kick too, but essentially we took away a lot of their fast ball movement.”
Dwyer joined Toner with four majors, and Gentile two, with Jesse Davies, Scalzo and Jacob Mutimer joining the major goal scorers as Narre Warren’s best players.
Across the ground, it was hard to find a player that lost his individual match up, and while Wandin let some chances slip, kicking 2.5 in the third quarter, nothing was going to stand in the way of a Magpie win.
They answered every challenge thrown their way in 2024, winning all five contests against fellow contenders in Wandin and Woori Yallock, and losing just once to finish the home-and-away season with a record of 17-1.
An exodus of key players over the summer left many to wonder what would come from the Magpies in 2024 on the back of a demoralising grand final hammering, but rumours of its death proved to be just that – rumours.
They leave the competition with their heads held high, and will present a frightening prospect for all Southern Football Netball League clubs.
With the reserves side winning all four premierships on offer since the OEFN’s inception and the Under 19s falling just short of another grand final birth, the depth is plentiful at Kalora Park, and a bright future is on the horizon.
