By Tara Murray
Diggers Rest captain Tom Gleeson went out with a bang in the Riddell District Football League grand final on Sunday.
With a flight to Canada booked for next week and no return date, it could be a while before he pulls on the jumper for the Burras.
But he made what could be his last game a good one, and was named best on ground in his side’s win against Riddell.
Gleeson, who was part of the Burras’ 2016 grand final, said this one was special in a different way.
“It’s pretty good and there’s no way to cap the feeling really,” he said.
“I think the last time I cried for 25 minutes after, thanks to losing five or six grand finals beforehand. That was a weight off the shoulders.
“That one was for the club, this one feels like it was for us.
“We wanted it a lot … we deserved it.”
While Gleeson was awarded the Doug McIntyre Medal as best on ground he was quick to praise all his teammates. However, he said while everyone contributed at some point of the game, he also thought there was someone else who deserved the medal.
“I think Taylor Hine is the stiffest man in Australia right now. He was incredible all day.
“I took a couple of marks at big times.”
Gleeson said the success of this year, not just in the seniors and reserves, started when both sides fell short of grand finals last year.
He said that spurred them on.
“We were pretty disappointed after last year, we thought we had the side to get there.
“We stumbled a couple of times out here and obviously with Simsy [Shaun Sims] not coaching us any more, it was all against us.
“Lobby [Jamie Lobb] got us all together and got us back on track.
“We always had belief.”
Once the season started the Burras were always in the mix, but not spoken about as flag favourites.
Gleeson said they probably didn’t get the recognition they deserved. They lost four games during the regular season by a total of less than four goals.
“We had flashes of brilliance, but a quarter cost us.
“We played some pretty bad footy, but in every game we fought back into it and always had that belief and never gave up.
“We thought we were inconsistent, as we thought we could have been doing better than we were.”
Gleeson said the community would really enjoy not only the seniors’ premiership, but also the reserves premiership.
“I don’t think we get the credit we deserve for keeping the group we’ve got together.”
