Katamatite has ended the Picola District Football Netball League’s most imposing streak, stunning previously unbeaten Waaia by 21 points in the senior grand final at Deniliquin Memorial Park on Saturday.
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The Tigers prevailed 14.6 (90) to 10.9 (69), their first flag since 2001 and only the fifth in their 134 year history, achieved with a performance full of belief, discipline and sheer desperation.
The game opened with little between the sides.
Waaia looked like flexing its muscle when it piled on four straight goals, but Katamatite responded with two late ones, including a stunning effort from the boundary on the quarter-time siren to cut the margin to eight points.
It was exactly the foothold they needed against a Bombers side that had won their past three premierships and hadn’t lost a game all season.
The second term was a grind, both sides guilty of wasting opportunities.
Katamatite were steadier in general play, their ball movement measured, but squandered chances in front of goal.
They had started the term wayward in front of the sticks, kicking three behinds before finally finding a breakthrough major to level scores midway through the term.
Waaia answered through a sharp snap from 35 metres, and by the half the Bombers had nudged their way to a seven-point lead.
Simply put, the third quarter belonged to the Katamatite Football Club.
Forward Mitch Coleman lit up the contest with three goals in a row, celebrating each with the sort of joy that rippled through the Tigers’ faithful along the boundary.
Not long thereafter it was livewire small forward Mark Mills that kicked two in a row of his own, matching the celebrating skills of Coleman.
With five goals straight, and quickly, the Tigers had turned the game completely on its head.
Waaia, usually so composed, suddenly looked rattled, its attempts to slow the tempo constantly broken up by Katamatite’s relentless pressure.
By three-quarter time the Tigers led by 17 and the Bombers’ unbeaten dream was teetering.
Coach James Hazelman said the focus was on staying calm.
“Just keep playing the way we did in that third quarter,” he said.
“We controlled the footy a lot better than in the first half. We gave our forwards better looks, and at the end of the day, we said we’re going to go and do it for our supporters.
“So I think we put ourselves in that position. It was about not letting it go.”
Hazelman then underlined the message by kicking the opening goal of the final term.
“It was huge,” he admitted.
“No doubt in the coaches box, we felt like it was starting to go our way, but you know, it goes for 25 more minutes.
“They’re a side that can score quick, so we just had to keep playing the game out simple as that.”
For Waaia, normally so ruthless, the fourth quarter was a catalogue of missed chances.
Forward Connor Brown missed two sitters in the opening minutes, including one from 20 metres out that barely scraped through for a behind.
At the other end, Katamatite punished every error, with Mitch Ward (three goals) and Will Gorman (two goals) adding to the tally as the yellow and black contingent in the crowd sensed history.
When Toby Kopa bombed one from 50 metres out to put the margin out to 27 points, the Tigers knew they were home.
Waaia, through Jesse Trower and Brown, found consolation goals, but it was too little, too late.
Katamatite had controlled the contest on their terms, and at the final siren the scoreboard told the story: 14.6 (90) to 10.9 (69).
For Hazelman, the triumph was about more than football.
“It’s amazing, as you can see, for our community, mate, this has been a long time coming, and this is probably the lifeblood of the community as well,” he said.
“There’s so much support here, and that’s for them, ultimately.”
He praised his ruckman, Zach Del Grosso, affectionately known as “The Big Ragou,” who was awarded with the best on ground medal.
“Probably over the last two or three years, we haven’t had a bloke like him through the middle,” Hazelman said.
“He sort of throws his weight around, he just gives us presence through the middle.
“To be honest, I can’t single out any other blokes. I just think it was a complete team performance today.”
For Waaia, it was heartbreak. A perfect season and hopes of a fourth straight premiership evaporated in the space of the third quarter.
For Katamatite, it was the sweetest of days. A drought-breaking premiership earned the hard way, against the competition’s undisputed heavyweight.