By Tara Murray
It wasn’t pretty, nor high scoring, but it didn’t matter for Diggers Rest as it won its second Riddell District Football League reserves premiership in three years.
The team to beat all season, the Burras were surprisingly beaten by Wallan in the second semi-final. They ensured it wasn’t a repeat performance when they found themselves lining up against Wallan in the grand final.
Diggers Rest claimed the flag with a 6.8 (44)-2.1 (13) win.
Burras coach Anthony Power said he didn’t expect Wallan to be able to score as easily against them this time around.
“It was very low scoring, which we knew it would be,” he said.
“I have a really good backline and a couple of weeks ago when we played them, I had four of my backs out.
“This week we were lucky enough to have them back.”
Power was right – Wallan scored just two goals for the game.
With the Burras defence doing the job at one end, the forwards did just enough to get the premiership.
Power said all the pressure was on Wallan to get the win. He said he knew the Burras just had to come out and do what they had all season.
His one concern was the big Clarke Oval ground which they’ve struggled at in the past, but it wasn’t an issue this time.
It wasn’t until the end of the game the celebrations started.
“It was a very tight game and we worked harder then them in the end I thought,” Power said.
“In grand finals I never think we’ve got it won until the siren goes.
“About four minutes to go, the guys were patting me on the back saying you’ve got it, I said ‘not yet’.”
Craig Thompson was the only multiple goalkicker, kicking two goals. He was named in the best, along with Steven Fogarty and Jarrod Rowan.
Skipper Jeff Heritage was awarded the best on ground medal.
“He’s Diggers Rest elite,” Power said of Heritage. “He’s our captain and just a workhorse. We’re rapt for him.”
Having coached the reserves premiership in 2016, Power said this one was a lot different.
He said for him, this one was more special.
“I built this side the last two years,” he said. “Last time I just walked into a premiership-winning side.
“We’ve kept five or six from the first year and we’ve turned them over.
“We had a lot of young kids come up from the under-18s which is good.
“We’re going to be strong for a long time.”
