West Coburg will be returning to the EDFL’s Premier Division after a thrilling 38-point victory against Oak Park in Saturday’s Division One decider.
It’s been eight years since the Burgers last featured in the EDFL’s top flight, and after several bouts of grand final heartbreak in recent years, they have finally broken through to lift the premiership.
Meanwhile for Oak Park, the pain of consecutive grand final defeats will no doubt sting for weeks to come.
After another highly successful season at the top end of the ladder, they fell short again.
The Roos jumped from the gates exceptionally well to start the game, however, with four goals to one in the opening quarter.
While they were perhaps a fraction lucky when considering the Burgers' eight points in the first quarter, the Roos were in the box seat to begin the game.
The game was sharply flipped on it’s head in the second quarter, with the Burgers firing back swiftly with seven goals to one in the second quarter to make the most of the wind.
The Burgers were starting to dominate the contest, and while they were applying decent scoreboard pressure, wasted opportunities in front of goal were starting to become a factor.
Oak Park capitalised on this.
In a crucial third term, the Roos responded profoundly with six goals to two and brought themselves right back into the contest.
Kane O’Halloran lit up the third quarter as he punched through three majors which took his tally to four goals at the time.
One kick was all that separated the two best sides in the competition at three-quarter time, and a brilliant crowd of four thousand was restless as the pressure continued to magnify.
But, with the game on the line, West Coburg produced a quarter for the ages to book its ticket back into the league’s top division.
Iesa Saad kicked two early majors for the Burgers in the quarter, and while the Roos were battling gallantly, they were ultimately no match.
Seven total goals to just the Roos' two in the final passage of play was enough to seal the deal.
Co-captain Emilio Rinaudo put his side on his back with a premiership-winning performance, while Ibrahim Taha’s two critical fourth quarter goals saw him adjudged the David McWilliam Medallist as the best on ground.
For the Roos, co-captain Lachy Stredwick was the star of the show again, and O’Halloran added to his season log with another bag of five goals.
West Coburg are back in Community Bank Strathmore Premier Division, while it’s back to drawing board for Oak Park.
