By Jonty Ralphsmith
Cora Lynn’s Jimmy Munro was swept up in emotion.
Cranbourne’s George Grey was going berserk with excitement.
And fellow Eagle and Casey captain Mitch White was signing the Sherrin’s of screaming Casey and Melbourne supporters.
“It’s huge,“ White said of the win.
“It has been a slog – even though we have won all year, it hasn’t been easy so it means a lot and to see a great mate of mine, Jimmy, with his emotion showing after losing two before this makes it so good to get it done.“
White won the Norm Goss Medal in Casey’s 10.10 (70) to 5.8 (38) win in the VFL Grand final against Southport at Ikon Park.
Not only was the 104-gamer part of plenty of offensive plays for the Dees, he also laid 13 tackles and quelled the influence of Jacob Dawson, keeping him to 14 touches.
Last time the two teams went head-to-head, Dawson was best-on-ground – this time it was the Casey skipper.
“It’s a bloody tough gig to play a role on Dawson. I was just happy to stand in his way and block him from getting the footy,“ White said.
“We wanted to stop them at the source and cut off a lot of their ball movement because he dominated us last time.“
It’s the club’s first flag since it was re-branded as Casey, the last premiership coming in 1999.
The match was played under pelting rain and there was even distant lightning at one stage.
It was perfect conditions for Casey footy, with prime movers White and Munro shining.
147-gamer Munro is a renowned wet-weather specialist and when the rain got most heavy and the game was on the line in the third quarter, he stepped up.
“He turns up every week, he’s a bloody madman and I love playing with him because you know what you’re going to get,“ White said.
“He turns up and goes and goes – I can’t speak any more highly of him, I love him so much.“
Southport brought the heat early, winning the tackle count by nine in the first quarter despite out-possessing the Dees by 15.
But after Casey laid 34 tackles in the first half, it laid 40 in the first 20 minutes of the third quarter, led by eight from Munro.
The Dees finished with 103 tackles and he got 17 of them to go with 21 touches and the game-turning goal.
When Munro snapped a goal on his right, as he was being pushed over, the crowd could sense the Dees were right on top.
In between the contest-to-contest running, cult-figure Munro, nicknamed ‘the Moose’, still has the energy to lift the spirits of his team and he did that with a zesty celebration after the major, relishing the big stage.
As said the t-shirts of his most fervent supporters post-game and Jason Bennett in commentary, the moose was loose.
With Southport having had just six second-quarter inside 50s and Casey having the running early in the third, that goal put the Dees 13 points up and on the march to a match-winning lead.
The pressure and desperation continued to lift from the Dees after the main break as the game became a contested slog-fest.
When the rain subsided late in the third quarter, it was Casey that was getting first hands on the ball and with the lead at 15 points in a low-scoring affair, Casey needed one more strong quarter in a season that had seen it lose just one match.
There was a sense of destiny being realised as Jake Melksham kicked a set shot from outside 50, and when he dribbled another through from 20, the Casey chant reached overdrive in the legends stand.
Casey was home.
Southport led by seven at quarter time but from their 29 inside 50s after the first break, they would score just two more goals.
One of those was deep in stoppage time in the fourth quarter when a brawl consumed most of Casey’s numbers.
When the game was on the line, Adam Tomlinson, Joel Smith and co. resisted them.
Across the Demons’ three finals, they have won the inside 50 count by just 17, yet have scored 20 more goals than the opposition.
They absorb pressure and then have so many avenues to goal when they get the momentum who are well-supplied by a tough, hard-working engine room.
The Sharks were the much better side in the first quarter, their first five scores coming via marks inside 50.
Billy Gowers had a running shot from 30 with no one on his tail early in the second quarter to put Southport up by 13 but the miss was emblematic of the visitors’ wastefulness.
“We felt like we were in it (despite our start). We knew going into the game we were the number one team for defending inside 50s and we knew we wanted to get it in there a lot so we weren’t that worried about that side of the game,“ White said,
“We knew their best players were midfielders and we wanted to get it done on the inside which we didn’t quite – it was 50-50 and we knew when we could get it done we could surge it forward and that turned the arm-wrestle our way.“
AFL-listed Kade Chandler (23 disposals, seven tackles) and Luke Dunstan (31 disposals, nine tackles) got themselves more involved in the second quarter, halting the Sharks.
But it was ultimately a pair of loyal VFL-listers who carried them to the premiership.
“It’s pretty much exactly the same as what it is on the field,“ White said of his relationship with Munro.
“I let him do what he wants and we have a laugh and get together, I love spending time with him, I love playing footy with him, it’s just grouse.“
