JONTY: September is the time we’re reminded how lucky we are as sports journalists to cover incredible triumph and convey heart-throbbing emotion. Mike Brady says ‘well you work to earn a living, but on weekends comes the time, you can do whatever turns you on, get out and clear your mind.’ We’re so privileged to be in a position where I don’t feel like we work to earn a living because me, I like football, and I know you boys do too. So, on that note, and having watched some players fly like an angel and get up there Cazaly on Outer East grand final day, what was your best action?
MARCUS: The game was won in the first quarter in Saturday’s Outer East Premier Division football grand final. Narre Warren flew out of the blocks with six goals to two in the opening quarter and was able to withhold Wandin’s surge for the rest of the game. Sam Johnson’s goal from a forward-50 stoppage where he was running towards the pocket and kicked it on his left foot, his non-preferred, it just floated through. It felt like an omen; if he’s kicking that, they’re in for a good day. It was a high degree of difficulty and everyone was a bit shocked because he was running at full tilt, too. Special shout out to Jesse Davies, too, who took a hanger late in the game in an area that we might have to investigate because I’ve seen four or five hangers in that region at Officer this year.
JONTY: Maybe Mike Brady has installed a trampoline under the grass to allow players to get up there Cazaly!
MARCUS: Maybe that’s Rob Porter’s legacy.
JONTY: Very good, we’ll talk more about the grand final in a second but Dave, your best action, having watched the three grand finals on the day.
DAVE: Pakenham’s under-19s were really struggling against Officer with only a few minutes to go in the first half and Mason Hall, who has played senior footy for Pakenham this year, turned it on. Either side of halftime, he kicked three goals in five minutes. He kicked one on the siren, and this is my highlight, he celebrated with a backflip. He gathered the ball inside the centre square, balked an opponent, kicked it from 45 and then ran across to the other side of the ground and did a backflip in front of the grandstand. I’ve never seen a more dominant 5-10 minutes of play than what he produced on Saturday.
JONTY: A lively forward is he?
DAVE: A midfielder-forward, clever, explosive…exactly what Pakenham need.
JONTY: There you go. There are days where you could fly in footy, and maybe Hall has some wings if he’s producing that. Another diminutive forward-midfielder gets my best action. I don’t think we could let a Bunyip local play in an AFL grand final without giving them a mention on LTS. Tom Papley kicked three goals against Port Adelaide on Friday night to really set the tone for them, with his first a crucial nerve-settler on quarter time, with the Swans running away with it from there.
COMPARING PREMIERS
JONTY: You guys obviously had a lot more local action than what I did on the weekend. Marcus, I’ll go to you. Narre Warren and Wandin have played against each other in consecutive grand finals. You’ll be able to tell us how much of a list turnover each has had in the offseason, but are you taking Wandin’s 2023 flag side or Narre’s team from Saturday?
MARCUS: You, know Jonty, I think that might be the best question posed on LTS this year so you’re clearly in September form even though your teams are not. Look, Dave, you famously coined in pre-season that you hadn’t seen a team primed for a premiership as much as Nar Nar Goon and in hindsight, I think I could say the same thing about Wandin last year. Nothing was going to stand in their way, as much as I did tip Narre Warren last year so I’ll put my hand up there. They played champagne football that afternoon and I don’t think any team could stop that and Narre Warren is a more a system-based team. I would say Wandin on Saturday were worse than what Narre Warren was 12 months prior. Narre Warren’s pressure was phenomenal; they didn’t let Wandin get into the game at all. We touched on redemption last week, and Narre Warren playing with a redemption edge would get them over the line in this hypothetical. Their perceived pressure worried Wandin out of their natural game. The lack of room between Narre Warren’s best and worst compared to Wandin, gives them the edge. The Magpies also beat Wandin three times throughout the year, so it wasn’t a fluke, where last year was a 2-2 split. In terms of list turnover, there was a fair bit at Narre Warren, not so much at Wandin, but Joel Garner was sinking cans on Saturday and I was thinking ‘gee, Wandin could do with you out in the middle.’ He was super impressive in last year’s grand final.
JONTY: And a question on that, one thing I love to look at in premiership sides are the bottom six players. Would you say Narre Warren has the better bottom six than Wandin?
MARCUS: Well, interesting you should say that. Trent Papworth and Tom Toner almost said verbatim that their bottom five guys were crucial and I didn’t prompt either of them on that. They both said that Wandin has more star power but the bottom five guys were instrumental which is typical of Narre – systematic down to a tee.
DAVE: How good was the three quarter time speech? It was a throwback to the good old days from Steven Kidd. He looked at every player in the eye and said ‘I want you to get every last drop, every ounce out of your bodies.’ He told them to keep scoring and give everything they’ve got, it was inspiring stuff.
PAKENHAM’S NEXT GENERATION
JONTY: Dave, you touched on Mason Hall before. Who were some other strong individuals in the Under 19s that were part of the premiership side that Pakenham should get excited about; having not had the senior season they would have been hoping for?
DAVE: Pakenham senior footy, they really lack a commanding ruck. Cooper Riley never lived up to expectations but they’ve got a good left-footed ruck with good skills, very tall, James Lee so keep an eye out for him. Mason Hall will be Pakenham’s best midfielder within the next two years. He’s an excitement machine who can grab the ball at speed, has burst, and is a good finisher. Josh Trembath, a halfback flanker, rebounding defender. He hit a couple of kicks on the weekend that hit teammates 45 metres away, lace out. There was a young kid called Ashton Hermanus, who put his body on the line when he probably didn’t need to. I felt like that changed the contest from that point forward after Officer was on top early. I like his hardness. Tarrant Cannon down back wears a blue helmet and has really good closing speed. I’m putting high expectations on him by saying this, but closing speed reminiscent of Brandon Osborne back in the day. It looked like his opponent would mark the ball a couple of times and he closed quickly. The captain, Bailey Brougham, is a stocky midfielder who I could see being a good senior player. Kade Perkins is another, a left-footed rebounder, and David Sollberger, an in-and-around-the-packs midfielder. Officer had a kid on fire in the first 30 minutes and Sollberger went to him so it’s good to have a player who can lock-down. I think Pakenham should pick up that team from Saturday, transplant it into their round one team next year in senior footy and let it grow as a unit for the next two-to-five years.
JONTY: Marcus, you wrote a story last year about Tahj De La Rue, a Stingrays listed player who has shown his versatility across his couple of years there. He’s highly skilled and has a lot of upside. Good natural improvement he showed this year. Were there any others you wanted to add?
MARCUS: Sollberger and Trembath were definitely on the list, they’ve played a lot of senior footy in the last 18 months. Ryan Martini, a halfback flanker is another one I really like. He’s aggressive with his ball use. Maybe it has to be whittled down at times but he’s skilful and is one I’ll be watching.
AFL GRAND FINAL
JONTY: Last topic is the AFL grand final, it would remiss of us not to touch on it in the biggest week on the footy calendar. What are your immediate thoughts, boys, on Sydney and Brisbane?
DAVE: I’d like to see Brisbane win. Redemption has been a big part of our discussions over the last two weeks and they lost the grand final by five points to Collingwood last year so I’d like to see them win. But I can see the Sydney midfield running riot, especially with the ‘Big O’ (Oscar McInerney) out. He might not be their best player, but he could be their most important.
JONTY: Yeah, a huge loss, you’ll either be bringing in someone who has four career games in Henry Smith or someone else who has hardly played this season in Darcy Fort, to go against Brodie Grundy. It’s a tough assignment. I think it’s great for the game that you will have two teams from non-footy states traditionally in the grand final. That’s huge for the follower-ship in the northern states, and it’s the first time that’s ever happened I think?
DAVE: Yeah, the last time these two teams played in the grand final was 1899…and no, I wasn’t alive, Jonty!
JONTY: Yes, of course, I did see that pop up. It was a thriller on that day with less than a goal separating the two sides for most of the contest.
DAVE: There was probably only a goal kicked!
JONTY: Yeah, it was 27-24 that day between Fitzroy and South Melbourne. Marcus, what are your thoughts?
MARCUS: Brisbane is a tough one because I feel like they were as good as anyone in the second half of the year but I don’t want to discount the Swans. I feel like we can fall into the trap so often of wanting to see the team from outside the four win it and I think that is doing a disservice to what Sydney has done all year. I’d lean towards the Swans but Brisbane is more than capable.
JONTY: I’d lean towards the Swans as well, I just look at the midfield with Chad Warner, Errol Gulden and Isaac Heeney, it feels like that has more firepower than Brisbane’s and James Rowbottom has a huge role to play as well. I’m also intrigued to see if James Jordon goes to Dayne Zorko.
DAVE: And what a bonus for Brodie Grundy coming in to the grand final…the injury to McInerney sets it up for him to dominate the game. I think Luke Parker is another one like Rowbottom we have to touch on who gives them a hard edge and balances the midfield well. I just worry about Brisbane’s midfield…Will Ashcroft has shown match-winning abilities in the last two finals and we know what Lachie Neale can do. I feel like they both have to have great games for Brisbane to have a chance. And Jarrod Berry needs to redeem himself after giving away two 50-metre penalties in the grand final last year.
JONTY: Absolutely, and some skill errors too. A quick Norm Smith tip from each of you. I’ll go Sydney by 26 and Errol Gulden to win Normie.
MARCUS: I was going to say Gulden too, but I don’t want to say the same. Sydney to win, and I’ll go Luke Parker for the Norm; I think that would be an awesome story, and to bring a guy of his quality into the side late in the year is awesome.
DAVE: All angles point to Sydney, but I’m going Brisbane by four points and Dayne Zorko to have two medals around his neck after getting 30 across half back.
JONTY: Very good chat, guys. Lap up the week and I look forward to reconvening next week.
DAVE: We will Jonty…we’ll do whatever turns us on!
