With an average of 14 points separating them in their two meetings throughout the season, the Goulburn Valley League reserves football grand final between Kyabram and Seymour had the potential to be an absolute thriller.
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It was low-scoring, gritty, and stoppage-heavy, but it delivered.
And in stunning scenes, it was Seymour that prevailed, with some clutch moments in the final term seeing the Lions emerge 6.9 (45) to 5.8 (38) victors, stealing the premiership from fourth and handing Kyabram just its second loss of the season.
With the wind gusting at Deakin Reserve, scoring was made difficult in the first term, and while the Lions had plenty of opportunity, they couldn’t convert, scoring 0.4 for the quarter while Kyabram added 1.2 to take a four-point lead into the first break.
Inaccuracy proved no such issue in the second term, with four straight goals kicked between the two sides, and it was Seymour that booted the majority, adding three goals to its tally, including a superb drop punt from co-coach Julian Morgan tight in the pocket, to race out to a 22-14 lead by the main break.
It got even better in the third term for the Lions, as they converted the first major of the second half to take a game-high 15-point lead, and it looked as though they were ready to break the game wide open.
Kyabram had ruled over the reserves competition throughout the season, however, and they weren’t finished with yet.
A stunning break out of the very next centre bounce from Thomas Burnett saw the Bomber stream into the forward 50 and kick truly against the tide to bring Ky back within seven points, before a Jarryd Pertzel long bomb from a set shot cut the lead back to a single point.
Kyabram had got back on top of the game, but for all the dominance they enjoyed, they managed just two goals in the term, spraying multiple shots out on the full and another for four behinds, tying things up at 4.6 (30) heading into the final term.
The crowd reached fever pitch as the ball was bounced to begin the final term, and with a huge contingent of fans in red and black lining the boundary, Pertzel dobbed his second major of the afternoon to put Kyabram up by a kick early, and with all of the momentum behind them.
The ball bounced around between the arcs as the pressure intensified, with a couple of behinds kicked either way, but crucially the clock was winding down, and Seymour needed a hero.
And who better to kick a clutch goal than the league’s leading goalkicker.
The Lions had been advanced to the edge of forward 50 after winning a free kick on the wing and receiving a 50 metre penalty, which was booted to the mouth of goal, at which point Jack Radford launched himself at a pack and marked from three deep, going back and slamming it through the middle to put the Lions up by one point with 19 minutes gone.
It was next goal wins type of territory, and it was Seymour that made the next advance forward, and young gun Dylan Davis was on the end of it, with the under-18 Lion clinging on to a brilliant low mark, soaking up the clock and converting to rapturous applause, as Seymour pushed the advantage out to seven points with 23 minutes gone.
Kyabram had a final roll of the dice, kicking a point, and Seymour just needed to find a mark down the line from the kick in to soak the clock, with Radford yet again the man, hanging onto a superb contested mark to get his Lions out of trouble.
It was absolute ecstasy at the siren for Seymour, which defied the defeats in each of the previous two meetings with Kyabram this season to win the flag 5.8 (38) to 6.9 (45), much to the delight of co-coach Dale Short.
“It’s just pure relief,” Short said of the emotion at the final siren.
“It was a tight, contested game, but we stuck to our guns and we got through, it’s great.”
While the Lions had raced out to the early lead, the Bombers held the momentum heading into the last, yet Short said his charges never dropped their heads, showing full faith in each other that they had what was required to win.
“(The message was) just to stay calm, use the wind,” he said.
“We had the legs, we had the personnel, we knew we could do it, we just had to get out there and do it, really.”
Despite having failed to beat the Bombers at any stage during the season, Short said the Lions remained confident heading into the decider that they could get the job done, and was ultimately proved correct.
“We were the only team that had scored heavily against them, and we knew if we brought the right stuff, we could go a long way,” he said.
“We did (bring it), we hit them hard early, and we got the end result we wanted.”
Seymour’s Lachlan Waite was awarded the Max Murley medal for best in finals, and was the Lions’ best in the decider having patrolled the back line with aplomb, however it would be Kyabram’s Thomas Burnett that was awarded the Peter Ryan medal as best on ground despite lining up for the losing side.