Tara Murray
Burnside Heights put a disappointing first finals performance behind it and stormed into the Essendon District Football League women’s division 1 grand final on Saturday.
The minor premiers showed more of the form we had become used to this season in Saturday’s preliminary final win against Airport West.
Four goals to none in the first quarter set the game up and from there the Bears confidence grew.
They continued to build the lead in every quarter on the way to a 12.11 (83)-0.5 (5) win.
Bears coach Michael Davis was thrilled with the result.
“We controlled the contrast and took our chances,” he said. “We worked as a group and it’s been four years in the making.
“We’ve been working towards it and we’re now in a second grand final and it is pretty special.”
Davis said despite being disappointed the week before they had a lot of belief in what they could do and tried to put that performance behind them and focus on Airport West.
He said the group was really switched on from the start.
“We were in control and we had options,” he said. “ We rewarded our players and got it forward and were able to kick goals.
“Early in the season we struggled to convert, we were able to be 5.5 at half time, it was good to be a bit better.”
Davis said with the game in their control at the main break, the group were up and about and keen to get the job done.
Bella Negri kicked four goals and Kayla Ravanello kicked three goals.
Davis said their midfield led the way in the win.
He highlighted Krissy Trang, Ebony Stevens, Payton-Ani Ozols, Holly McGregor and Bethany Correia.
The Bears will now face Greenvale in the grand final at Coburg City Oval at 2.25pm.
The Jets will be playing off in a third straight grand final, while the Bears are playing in their first grand final since its first season in 2018 when there was one division.
The two teams have split the four matches between them 2-2, with the Jets winning the most recent match, the qualifying final.
Davis said they were expecting a hard contest in the grand final. He said they wanted to keep this week as normal as possible and try and enjoy it.
“The home team has lost all four of the matches so far,” he said. “This week there will be some venom [following the qualifying final loss].
“We’ll make sure the girls are on top of things and not looking too far ahead. We’ll keep it light hearted and enjoy it.
“We don’t want to play the game in our heads between now and then.”
The Bears men’s division 2 side had the bye on the weekend.
They’ll face Taylors Lakes in the final round on Saturday.
The winner will finish on top with the two teams to also face each other the following week for a spot in the grand final.
