By Marcus Uhe
A 10-point victory in the Eastern Football Netball League’s premier division grand final has secured Rowville its first premiership in top-flight football in the club’s history.
After failing on the biggest stage on the same venue in driving rain last season, redemption was achieved for Ben Wise’s Hawks in the grueling 9.12 66 to 8.8 56 defeat of Vermont in picturesque spring sunshine at Bayswater Oval.
From a season that began with two concerning losses, after conceding three-quarter-time leads, and with just two wins from their first five matches, an epic run from the Hawks saw them lose just once after round five, finishing the campaign on a nine-game winning streak and with a new trophy for the club’s cabinet.
Nerves were on show early in the contest, 16 minutes elapsing before either side could open the scoring.
Rowville, rested and refreshed after a week off, started hungry and fanatical around the ball, owning territory in the first five minutes but was unable to capitalise on the scoreboard as the Vermont defenders held strong.
Mitchell Sruk was caught in the backline, unaware of the pressure closing him down, while Matthew Evans’ shot for goal from short distance, on a slight angle, was one he would like to forget, slewing off the side of his boot and falling short of the goal-line.
It took the composure of Maverick Taylor to put the Hawks on the board, repeating his efforts on the same day 12 months prior by opening the scoring with the first goal of the game from almost the identical spot that Evans had missed from a few minutes earlier.
Having weathered the storm of the opening few minutes, Vermont was now making all the running, with Taylor and Lachlan McDonald’s goals for Rowville coming against the flow of play with the Hawks moving the ball the length of the ground, after misses at the other end.
A 10-point quarter time lead quickly became 16 as McDonald got off the chain from the Vermont midfielders, following a centre clearance into his attacking 50 and kicking a goal on the run.
The stronghold of the miserly Hawks defence was then broken as the Eagles finally got themselves on the board, Jamie Rossiter snapping truly on his left foot to ignite his side.
Nothing was coming easy for the Hawks as Vermont showed why they were so hard to beat all season, peppering the goal-face but unable to find the desired outcome.
Taylor’s second in the 18th minute pushed the lead to a game-high 18 points, but two in quick succession to Daniel Nielson and Lachlan Johns for the Eagles ensured the Hawks would only possess a slender seven-point lead at the long break.
The interval seemed to come at a good time for the Hawks, as the Eagles finally looked to have unlocked parts of their game that had made them the best side in the home-and-away season.
The much-desired first goal of the second half came from the boot of Max Martini, swooping on a ground ball at a stoppage deep in his forward 50 at the crucial moment, rousing his fans in brown and gold draped over the fence.
Rowville pressed for the opening 10 minutes of the quarter but every time they threatened to separate themselves from the contest, Vermont found a way to respond.
Two goals in the space of a minute to Vermont cut the lead from 13 points to just one, as the Eagles managed to penetrate the Hawks’ defences twice from further afield.
The first of the pair from Nielson originated from a stoppage in the Hawks’ forward half, the second seeing Fraser Smith capitalize on an intercept in the back half that caught the Rowville back six out of position.
The premiership quarter and Rowville’s lead was hanging by a thread for a tense seven-minute stretch, in desperate need of a steady head to calm the anxious waters.
It would be Anthony Brolic to settle the nerves, rewarded for his tackling ferocity at a forward-half stoppage before nailing his resulting set shot from outside 50 to give his side some breathing space with a classic captain’s goal.
Kurtis Flakemore soon repeated the dose after some nifty work from Joshua Clarke at a boundary throw-in, to push the lead to 14 late in the term, setting the scene for a gripping finale.
A nine-minute stalemate was broken by Nielson’s third goal of the contest, the beneficiary of two Hawks defenders contesting a mark and failing to impact as the ball found its way out the back and into the bustling forwards’ hands.
When Lachlan Johns added another within the next 60 seconds from the resulting centre clearance, the margin had been cut to just four points.
Two goals, however, was all the Eagles could muster consecutively all afternoon, with Rowville always finding a way to respond when challenged.
On this occasion it was Lachlan Wynd’s turn to impact, held in-check for much of the afternoon but seizing his moment after a strong mark on the lead to restore a 10-point lead after 12 minutes.
Vermont managed the next through Campbell Barker to make it a single-kick game once again after 15 minutes, before Sruk was tackled high at a forward 50 stoppage and showed his composure, converting from short distance for the safety of a 10-point lead once again after 17 minutes.
Wynd and Jai Coleclough both missed chances to put the game beyond doubt in the final minutes, but both soaked-up the all-important 30 seconds granted to prepare, as the Hawks did their best to shut the game down.
Telling marks in defensive 50 from Jesse Eickhoff and Flakemore thwarted Vermont attacks in the dying stages, before Adrian Kalcovski, who ran rings around the Hawks back in round 11 with six goals, hit the post with around a minute left that essentially sealed his side’s fate.
The siren blew after 27 minutes with the play in front of the Hawks bench, as players, staff and supporters embraced to celebrate a historic result.
Eickhoff’s performance in the back half of the ground saw him walk away with the Cliff Tomkins medal, adjudged best afield by the voting panel.
Martini, Brolic and Taylor were among Rowville’s other key players, Taylor and McDonald the only multiple goalkickers with two goals each.
