THE blockbuster first round of the Ovens and King football season lived up to the hype on Saturday.
As Greta unfurled their first seniors premiership flag in 25 years in front of an exuberant home crowd, it would be Bright who went on to spoil the party in a thrilling upset.
After four quarters of quality football, the Mountain Men pulled one over on the reigning premiers, taking the points 12.14 (86) to the Blues’ 11.11 (77).
After falling at the final hurdle last season to the tune of 68 points, the Mountain Men were determined to produce a better showing.
It took some time to work into the game, with Greta’s midfield pressure and forward prowess affording them a 16-point lead at the first break.
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Bright started moving the ball better, while the defensive structure started paying dividends.
Greta were kept goalless through the second term, as Bright found more forward entries to trail by just two points at half-time.
The second half was a struggle for both teams, as the realities of a full match and the humidity started having an effect on players.
A five goal to four third term kept Greta’s noses in front to the tune of seven points with a quarter to play.
Ultimately, Bright started to get on top in the midfield while nullifying any Greta advance, and with more shots on goal in the final term, the Mountain Men managed to run out winners by just nine points, a thrilling start to the season for both teams.
Bright coach Michael Quirk said he was impressed by how his side performed against one of the benchmark teams of the competition.
“We always knew it was going to be tough when the fixture came out – Greta, reigning premiers, at the home ground was always going to be a very tough assignment, so we gave ourselves time to set ourselves for it,” he said.
“The first five minutes were very even, both sides were very competitive early, the Greta got onto the end of a few and kicked some goals, and there was a bit of a buffer there going into quarter time.
“We played Sam Buckley on Frazer Judd, we thought that would be a good match-up from our side.
“We wanted to be physical on a few players, we gave some players some jobs to do and targeted their core group of players, their match-winners.
"I thought our guys stuck to their tasks quite well in shut-down roles.”
The Mountain Men lifted, and managed to kick true and defend hard to take the win by nine points.
Will Shem was best on ground for Bright, while forward dynamo Cooper Thomason kicked five goals.
Greta’s Mark Wettern, Lachie Kennett and Josh Bell were impactful for the home side.
After the heartbreak in September last year, Quirk said the monumental effort from the whole team in the final term was incredible to see.
“The three-quarter time address was all about how much they want to win it - you can talk about game plan and structures and all of that sort of stuff, but it came down to how much both teams wanted to win it,” he said.
“‘Shemmy’ [Will Shem] ran with McClounan and did a very good job on James, minimised his impact.
“Buckley on Judd, Zander Dalbosco on [Josh] Bell, we think those guys did their job for the team and helped us win at the end of the day.”
