Three goals ahead at quarter-time, the game seemed to be on the Bombers’ terms, until Rochester fought tooth and nail in the second to remain within touching distance.
The club’s lead was only slenderly increased and a greater effort from the yellow and black had belief filling the Rochester huddle at the long break.
In the red and black’s cluster on the opposite side of the grandstand wing, Kyabram’s in-form goal-scorer knew he had been quiet.
In the three weeks leading into the big dance, Tom Holman had kicked five goals in each match – in round 18 against finalist Shepparton Swans, against Sunday’s opponent in the qualifying final and against Mansfield in the semi-final clash.
No other goal-kicker in the league was on such a tear.
But at half-time Holman had zero goals to his name.
“It was the last half of the year, I knew it was that time to get cracking,” Holman said post-game.
By the end of the third quarter, Holman had kicked 3.1 and the result was beyond doubt.
Kyabram’s lead had grown to 20 points and the towering tall had slotted all but one of the Bombers’ goals in the colloquially termed ‘premiership quarter’.
And it was off the back of Holman’s performance that quarter that sealed Kyabram’s first premiership since 2019.
“There’s no better feeling in footy, obviously there was a bit of heartbreak in 2023,” Holman said.
“I was pretty quiet in the first half and I just tried to bring it to ground as much as I could, but the boys were kicking them in well and the dukes started to work, thankfully.
“I was able to slot them and it was good momentum for us in that third quarter.”
Holman finished with four for the day after kicking the first of the last, producing one of the best individual finals campaigns in the competition and a grand final performance to remember.
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