WANGARATTA Rovers did the unthinkable and beat juggernaut Yarrawonga in Sunday’s Ovens and Murray grand final at the Lavington Sportsground.
Rovers led at every change and in the end were the team who took their chances clinching victory in a 9.15 (69) to 11.6 (72) thriller.
The Hawks' recruiting reaped rewards with a number of first year and returning players stamping their authority on the contest.
The story of incredible mid-season recruit Ed Dayman grew more legs with the ruckman named the Did Simpson Medallist, while first year players Sam Cattapan and Lochie O’Brien were outstanding.
Rovers coach Sam Murray couldn't believe the result.
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“I don’t know what to think at the moment,” Murray said.
“I was just so happy when the siren went because they were coming in those last few moments.
“It’s just so emotional, when that siren went I didn’t know what to feel or do, I think I laid there by myself for a few minutes.”
Yarrawonga started hot kicking the first two goals of the game and dominating possession for the first eight minutes.
The Hawks started to get their hands on the footy with Dayman kicking his side’s first of the day from the top of the goal square after taking a strong mark.
The Pigeons were dominating the inside 50 count 10 to four at the 20-minute mark but the Hawks found their groove in the latter part of the first term.
Dylan Stone kicked the Hawks second of the game after taking a mark 55 metres out and being awarded a 50-metre penalty after Yarrawonga’s Lach Howe caught him high following a mark.
Dylan Wilson followed suit 30 seconds later kicking a classy goal on the run from 30 metres out directly in front to give Rovers the lead.
Pigeons star Leigh Williams had the chance to hand his side the lead going into the first change but couldn’t convert his set shot.
The second quarter got off to a strong start for Rovers with grand final addition Will Christie kicking his first of the day two minutes in.
The pressure was hot with both sides making errors and the ball bouncing from end to end.
Murray delighted the crowd with a high fly, Sam Cattapan continued to crack in and Will McCarthy found plenty of the ball.
Lochie O’Brien found space on the grandstand side wing and laced youngster Justin Lewis out 45 metres out from goal with Lewis converting and taking the Hawks lead to 14 points.
Yarrawonga fought back through Logan Morey who got the margin back to eight points a minute after Lewis’ goal.
Morris Medallist Willie Wheeler and forward Jess Koopman both missed set shots on the eve of half-time which saw Rovers take a five-point buffer to the main break.
The Hawks got their first goal of the second half immediately after Dayman tapped the ball to Murray who handballed to Filo, with Filo then kicking long to Christie who marked and goaled from inside the goal square.
Lewis then toe poked his second goal of the game through to extend the margin to 17-points and get the large contingent of travelling Rovers fans up and about.
But just like that the lead evaporated and within five minutes the margin was back to one point as Morey, Perry Lewis-Smith and Ben Kennedy all kicked truly.
Dayman made the most of some elite Kieran Parnell playmaking and slotted his second of the day from 40 metres out on a tight angle in front of the grandstand to put Rovers five points up at three quarter time.
Cattapan and Gerrish kicked back-to-back goals for the Hawks to take the margin to 16-points.
Alex McCarthy then gathered 10 metres out and snapped for goal at the nine-minute mark as Rovers started to run away with it.
But Yarrawonga’s Bailey Fraunfelder got the next, followed by Leigh Williams four minutes later to get the deficit back to nine points.
It looked like Cattapan was going to have a chance to respond when he took a mark 45 metres out directly in front but he played on not knowing his Pigeons opponent was hot on his tail and was caught holding the ball.
Yarrawonga dominated the next four minutes with the ball living in their half and were rewarded for their work as Matt Casey converted a banana to get Yarrawonga within three-points at the 23 minute mark.
Kieran Parnell came up clutch in the dying stages taking two two huge marks on the last line of defence.
From there the Hawks held their nerve and secured their first flag since 1994.
“The past two games we’ve played against them we’ve been with them until half-time,” Murray said.
“In the back of my mind I knew that the emotion of the day would make us up for the fight, it’d take a really unprofessional team to not show up on grand final day.
“We didn’t ride the momentum too hard, if they kicked a couple we were able to get one back and I thought we took our chances which is what grand finals are about.”
Parnell’s clutch last quarter didn’t go unnoticed by Murray.
“I can’t get over Parnell’s last quarter, it was out of control, wowee,” he said.
“Our whole back six really stood up though, at half-time Yarrawonga had had 30 inside 50s to our 15 and I said to the coaches that our backs will break if that keeps happening.
“Credit to the boys I think that number would’ve evened up in the second half but our backs held up really well.”
The additions of Dayman, Cattapan, O’Brien, Parnell and Xavier Allison proved to be worth their weight in gold.
“All of the guys we brought in are really cool heads which helped us because last year we didn’t have many players like that,” Murray said.
“We’d have six or seven goal swings last year but this year we’ve been a lot more calm.
“We knew what we were getting with all of the boys we brought into the club though.”
Murray’s coaching was on show with the now premiership coach pulling a number of different moves in a bid to beat the benchmark side of the competition.
“We did a few different things, Alex Marklew played an unheralded role where he’d try and take Pendergast higher up the ground so he couldn’t intercept,” Murray said.
