Above: Monty Ioane, nephew of Wallaby star Digby Ioane, uses some of his family’s trademark speed to bring the ball forward in Endeavour Hills’ 15-10 defeat to Wyndham City in the under 14 grand final on Saturday.By Marc McGowan
A WEEKEND that began with such hope ended with disappointment for Endeavour Hills Rugby Union Club, as all three of its grand final sides saw their premiership dreams go up in smoke.
Endeavour Hills’ Colts outfit also tasted defeat in its preliminary final clash with Moorabbin.
The Colts lost 24-0, while the under 18s and under 16s also succumbed to Moorabbin 22-0 and 39-7 respectively, and the under 14s went down 15-10 to Wyndham City.
The losses left the club’s Masters team, which claimed the title for the second consecutive year last month, as Endeavour Hills’ only premiership winner.
Endeavour Hills president Ashley White was expecting a prosperous Saturday, but put the day’s events into perspective.
“When you get your hands on the grand final trophy and then let it slip out of your hands, it is always disappointing,” he said.
“But there has got to be winners and there has got to be losers.”
White preferred to focus on the positives at his club and had little trouble finding them.
“To have three of our four underage sides making the grand final is not a bad result in the whole scheme of things,” he said.
“The best thing about it is that they all went out and had a great time and played their hearts out.
“Results are a part of it – winning a grand final is important – but so is enjoying yourself, being active, and learning something about the game.”
With the junior and senior seasons now over for Endeavour Hills, attention now turns to presentations at Frog Hollow Reserve.
The seniors will be holding their night on 22 September, while the exact date for the juniors is yet to be decided, but will be some time next month.
However, Frog Hollow Reserve has not seen its last rugby union action of the year, with the ground hosting the visiting Tasmanian under 14 squad as it takes on the Victorian under 13 team at 7pm tomorrow (Friday).
