The Darley Football Club is the toast of the Ballarat Football League after winning its second premiership in three years.
With everything on the line, including local pride against their closest rival Bacchus Marsh, the Devils delivered a grand final day to remember.
As in the previous three clashes between the two sides, there was no close result, the Devils making it a hat-trick with a dominant display.
Despite the Cobras throwing everything at them in the third quarter, the Devils won
14.13 (97)-6.11 (47).
Devils coach Heath Scotland said there was many emotions after sealing victory.
“Relief is one of them,” he said. “And pure elation. I look around here, all the supporters, the members and everybody who had given something this year, worked so hard to get into this position – it is such a rewarding feeling.”
It was the Devils’ day even before the opening bounce of the senior grand final, with their reserves having already defeated the Cobras in the earlier grand final.
Once the senior grand final got under way, the Devils set about making it two for the day.
Scotland said they tried to forge the same sort of momentum that had generated a big semi-final win over Bacchus Marsh.
“Football can change day-to-day,” he said. “I knew if we pressured them well and we played good football, I knew we were capable of doing that again.
“Our best is this, our worst can be vulnerable. For me, it was about getting back to the process, understanding how we got that result – we needed to implement that again.”
In less than ideal conditions, with a tricky wind favouring one end, the Devils started where they left off in the semi-final.
Kicking against the wind, they led by 14 points at quarter-time after kicking the only two goals of the opening quarter.
It wasn’t until the dying minutes of the first half that the Cobras kicked their first major to reduce the margin to 22 points.
Scotland said the Devils prided themselves on a defence.
“Our game is built off our defence,” he said. “They’ve got some quality players and obviously missing Jarrah Maksymow ,who kicked 52 goals for the year, is a big loss [for them].
“We set our backs a task to defend their dangerous players, and to be honest I thought our backs were best on ground.
“Kyle Docherty was phenomenal, Shane Page was amazing off the wing and coming back, and Jackson Carrick stood tall.
“Tom Evans, Jacob Zeestraten and Darren Leonard [also stood out].”
The Cobras threw everything at the Devils in the third quarter but couldn’t convert.
The defining moment came when the Cobras were left a man down after Dean Heta was sent from the field after receiving a yellow card.
As well as leaving the Cobras short, it meant the Devils had one less dangerous player to shut down. Scotland said Heta was a player they had really focused on.
The Devils then piled on the goals, kicking the last four of the quarter to lead by 49 points at the last change.
The sting went out of the game in the last quarter and the Devils extended their lead by a solitary point.
Scotland said the win was the result of a really strong four-quarter performance.
Luke Delahey was awarded the Ray Edwards Memorial Plate for best-on-ground, while Scotland was awarded the Victorian Country Football League Medal.
The premiership is the Devils’ second in the BFL after breaking through for victory in
2015.
Scotland said that while this year’s group had done a lot of work, the platform for success had been built in the past couple of years.
“I knew if we could pick up a couple of quality players and implement a game style which I knew would be successful, I knew it was a good position to take,” Scotland said.
“Although there was a lot of work done by a lot of people [this year], and I’m proud of the work I’ve done myself, the foundations were set before I got here.”
Scotland, who announced after the game he would be hanging up the boots, was one of those handy inclusions and was one of the Devils’ best throughout the finals series.
He said it was about getting the right people with the right personalities to complement the group already in place.
“We knew Steve Kennedy was leaving, Anthony Chiu was leaving and so was Ryan Closter … I was thinking, I’m going to lose half my club here,” he said.
“We recruited and got some good players, but we wanted to make sure we recruited some local players like Nicholas Thacker, Kyle Doyle and Brad Inglis.
“They’re local people, which is what we’ve been building around – and then adding some class players.”
More pictures of the game and celebrations, CLICK HERE
