Kings of the jungle once more, Whorouly seal gritty grand final

Whorouly has completed its dramatic two-year turnaround under coach Michael Newton with its first Ovens and King senior football premiership since 2007, overcoming Bright in a gritty eight-point thriller. The Lions raised the cup in front of some 3000 people at Wangaratta’s WJ Findlay Oval on Saturday, holding off 11 lead changes in a low scoring 8.8 (56) to 6.12 (48) bout. Speaking among the jubilant and emotional scenes post-game, Newton said it was an emphatic result for the loyal Whorouly servants who put their faith in him to turn their footy around from a three-win season in 2024, to the ultimate success. “From when I took over, we were down at the bottom of the ladder, to turn it around in two years and be here holding the cup up is huge,” he said. “You can see how much today means to a lot of people around the club, it's a massive result. “Nineteen years is a long time between drinks, and we'll be having a few drinks tonight to celebrate.” After a tough arm-wrestle for three quarters, the game came to life in a rollercoaster final 30 minutes. Tom Gray would land the first blow for Bright in the first minute of the last quarter as the Mountain Men took the lead. Bright looked dangerous going forward but as was the case for much of the day, they were unable to make it count with their ball use going forward and with Whorouly defender Max Scott dominating the skies. Needing a spark to ignite them on the scoreboard, Whorouly would find it in their youngest player on the field. Zac O’Shannessy lived up to the ‘wizard’ name with a dashing run along the near wing, taking three bounces and eventually kicking the goal from the goal square after a failed pass to Dan Boyle. Bright’s own livewire Jack Larkin, who had been Bright’s best across the midfield and half forward line, didn’t take long to respond, and the back and forth continued. Fatigue began to set in and with the ball in their forward pocket, Whorouly’s captain Corey Southern had the biggest captain moment of the season, converting a holding the ball free kick to give his team the lead again, by the barest of margins. Going into time-on, Boyle put his head under the ball in front of goal and earned a free-kick from 15m out, putting one hand on the trophy for the Lions, holding a seven-point lead. Surging forward Bright threw everything they had left in attack, but once again Scott did enough to diffuse the danger and Whorouly took control. Newton had a chance to put the cherry on top in the closing moments, hitting the woodwork from 45m out close to the boundary, but it would matter little in the end. The scenes were emotional post-game as families and fans flooded the field to get around their premiership heroes. Tears were flowing all round from many who tasted their first senior premiership success to those who were there the last time Whorouly lifted the cup in the likes of Cam Wood and Paul Glanville. And in the middle of it all was the long serving and much loved president Eddie Constenaro, grinning ear to ear. “It doesn't take much for Ed Constenaro to cry, but with some of the players and families, you can see how much work we've put in to get to this stage,” Newton said. Both teams would show plenty of nerves to begin the match and it wasn’t until Bright’s Bernie Ruaro launched through the first goal of the day at the 11th minute mark of the first. The Lions would steady in the contest and dial up the forward pressure to hold a nine-point lead at quarter time, which would turn out to be the biggest buffer in the match. Bright got themselves back into the game and it was young guns Tyler Thomason and Zac O’Shannessy going blow for blow at both ends with the Lions up by one point at the main break. As they had in the first half, Bright created a host of chances going forward and across half-forward to start the third, but poor ball use inside 50 continued to hurt them. The only goal of the third would be kicked by Newton, who put his team in front with a signature one on one mark at the goal square. The full forward would fall just three goals shy of a second straight 100-goal season, but premiership glory more than made up for it. A fortnight ago, the Lions were overrun by Bright in an upset loss in the second semi-final. They were thumped at the source and in the contest, so Whorouly looked to bolster its midfield with size. Josh and Andy Newton were deployed through the middle and team of the year midfielder Jessie Smith played predominantly across half-back, closely tagged by Bright run-with-man Harry Jamieson. The move paid dividends for most of the day with Josh Newton having an explosive impact in the clearance work around the ground. “Today the focus was just killing the contest and not allowing easy goals and every goal they got, they had to work pretty hard for,” Michael Newton said. “We were really poor in the final a couple of weeks ago, we reflected on it, and our effort and contested work just wasn't there. “Today was just a really good game of footy. It was a really hard, contested brand of footy.” But there was no man on the ground who had a bigger impact than Scott. No stranger to O&K grand final glory going back to his days with Glenrowan, Scott led from the front as part of a back six who had the better of the Bright forwards all day. While the Mountain Men tried all they could to quell his influence, his intercept marking across half-back was simply impenetrable and in a defensive low-scoring game, it proved the difference. Whorouly played three finals in its premiership campaign, and Scott was named best-on-ground in each game. “He's been huge for us all year,” Newton said. “Every team kicks it to him every week, and he marks everything… they keep saying, ‘man Max up’, or ‘stop kicking it to him’, but they keep kicking it to him, and he keeps marking it.” The defender is now six-time O&K premiership player. Cam Wood would also play a huge part in the match, holding Bright’s main man up forward Luke Quirk goalless. Quirk had good looks at goal in the first quarter, including one from 10m out, but was unable to convert and was held quiet for the rest of the day. For the Mountain Men, mid-season recruit Larkin was enormous and with answers extremely hard to come by up forward, Tyler Thomason was the man, finishing with seven shots on goal for the day but kicking three. Reuben Jamieson was given the role on Newton and he played it extraordinarily well keeping him to two goals, while ruckmen Joe Crawley and Joe Gray were exceptional against team of the year member Ed Bramich, who still managed to have a say in a big last quarter. Bright coach Michael Quirk said the Mountain Men would be their own worst enemy on the day, failing to overcome the Lions' pressure up the field. “I was pretty disappointed with our skill level, especially through the middle of the ground... when we had moments where we controlled the football, we didn't use it well enough,” he said. “We couldn't hit targets going forward, which I think cost us. “Full credit to Whorouly, they were the better team on the day. “To get back here while developing four or five kids and losing eight players from a premiership side last year was a good effort, but good efforts don't win grand finals.”

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