Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault narrowly escaped a second devastating grand final loss in a row to claim the 2018 South West Football League reserves premiership.
The Lions were just 40 seconds away from tasting defeat against the Eaton Boomers when Kieran Chell booted a goal to put the ladder leaders just one point up.
The narrow win gave the Lions their second premiership in three years, after also taking out the 2016 title over the Boomers.
However, a Lions win didn’t look likely with the Boomers skipping away to a comfortable lead in the first quarter.
Despite the Lions having control of possession, the Boomers’ quick play resulted in the first four goals of the game.
Things fell into place and it’s a great way to finish the year with a team that not many people thought would go too far.
- HBL coach John Strano
The Lions had opportunities to score but regularly saw their shots sail wide of the mark, kicking seven behinds before Jack Strand was finally able to slot one after the quarter-time siren.
Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault came out of the quarter-time break with renewed fire and two early goals brought the margin back to just two points.
But the Boomers weren’t going to go down without a fight and wrestled control of the game before the siren sounded, although they were wasteful going forward and only added two goals.
Almost three goals down at half time, the Lions needed to make their charge in the third term.
However, both teams placed a strong emphasis on defence and regularly repelled any attacking pushes from their oppositions, with Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault’s Taine Williams kicking the only goal of the quarter.
With just one quarter left in the season, the game came to life.
Shannon Sabourne and Jordan Goff goaled early to put the Lions up by two points, before Jordan Teune and Jason Hill responded to put the Boomers back up by 10.
With time running out, another grand final loss looked on the cards for Harvey-Brunswick-Leschenault.
But the Lions were able to fight their way forward and slot through a goal with just minutes to go.
Then came the thrilling finish, with the ball being bombed in and out of the Lions’ forward half as the Boomers tried to hold on for the win.
But it wasn’t to be, as Chell got on the end of forward thrust and kicked the sealer in the 8.9 (57) to 8.8 (56) victory.
Lions coach John Strano said he never lost confidence that the team could pull off the victory.
“I told them at every break we’ll win the game sooner or later,” he said.
“I said to them that all we needed to do was kick straight to win the game.
“Things fell into place and it’s a great way to finish the year with a team that not many people thought would go too far.
“It was a great game of football and you can’t take anything away from Eaton.”
Lions midfielder Brendan Stemp was awarded the Don Punch MLA trophy for best on ground.
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