By DAVID NAGEL
SOUTH EAST FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUE
PREVIEW – GRAND FINAL
BERWICK can bind three chilling chapters into the ultimate horror-story for Cranbourne when the first ever South East Football Netball League grand final takes place at the Officer Recreational Reserve on Saturday.
It’s as plain and as simple as the nose on your face … this great list of Cranbourne players, led by its superstar full-forward Marc Holt, needs to win at least one more flag, to sit proudly alongside its 2011 success, to earn that coveted title of a champion side of its era.
They’ve been good for six years the Eagles -but now’s the time to stick the chest out and truly become great.
But a potential new nemesis awaits as Simon Goosey leads Cranbourne into its fifth consecutive grand final.
It won’t be the famous black and white stripes of Narre Warren to cause pain this time around, or the Eagles’ guernsey from Beaconsfield, this time it’s the navy blue and white logo of the Berwick Football Club that needs to be conquered.
Narre Warren coach Chris Toner summed up the general feeling about the Wickers at last week’s three-quarter time huddle.
“That club has won nothing; they don’t know how to succeed and they don’t know how to win games like this.”
As Toner found out, his Narre Warren coaching career finished just 30 minutes later, this Wickers outfit has broken the mould and is made of sterner stuff.
Players like their inspirational skipper Madi Andrews, and long-suffering stars like Paul Vanschilt finally have some back-up, some absolute guns, to challenge for the ultimate prize.
Berwick coach Rhys Nisbet is excited for a player like Vanschilt, who has stuck to the club through thick and thin.
“A bloke like Paul Vanschilt has worked tooth and nail for this club, he’s been a workhorse over the years and it’s a great achievement for him to make a grand final and it’s something he will be able to look back on down the track,” Nisbet said.
“I’m rapt for the players in what they’ve been able to achieve so far, but as a club we’ve got four chances to bring home some premierships this week, and that’s what truly successful clubs are happy to be judged by – premierships. This week will tell us whether we’ve had a good season or a great one.”
The Nisbet name is synonymous with the club’s only three flags of the last 60 years.
Rhys’s father Darryl broke a 23-year drought for the club in 1977, went back-to-back the following year, and made some pivotal moves as an assistant to playing-coach Tony Blackford in 1999.
In that same team, a young Rhys Nisbet kicked two goals in the 11-point victory over Crib Point in the Nepean League grand final.
But if we simply push all the storylines to one side … this is going to be a great game of football.
Berwick has the game to trouble the Eagles. They have line-breakers like Ben Kearns and Luke Sheppard, class in the form of Ash Smith and the improved backline in the league.
But most of all this Berwick side has a resuscitated heart, with Andrews, Michael Harold, a tough and ready Mick Manley, and young warriors like Jayden Goumas willing to risk head and shin to get the job done.
But can they match the will of this desperate Eagles line up?
Fair dinkum, it’s hard to imagine the pain that this side will suffer if it happens all over again.
Holt craves that second premiership, as do Mat Fletcher, Brandon Osborne and the Eagles’ under-rated skipper Matt Rus, who will control the tempo of the match from half back.
It’s close to a flip of the coin … but well done Cranbourne, you’re truly great and it’s yours by 11 points.
