Cranbourne duo Curtise Barker, left, and Michael Boland sandwich Navy Blue Vergim Faik in Saturday’s one-sided contest.Berwick’s David Van Diemen and Cranbourne’s Marc Holt battle for the ball. 70337 Pictures: Nigel Clements
By Mark Gullick
CRANBOURNE booked its first grand final appearance since 1995 after smashing Berwick by 112 points in the second semi-final at Edwin Flack Reserve on Saturday.
The Eagles smothered and harassed the Wickers in a relentless, intense four-quarter display that confirmed its premiership favouritism.
By quarter-time, Cranbourne had answered every query going into the match; its long lay-off, its poor recent record at the venue, but most significantly, it had seemingly shaken the nerves that plagued last year’s finals campaign.
Cranbourne’s Matthew Fletcher secured the first goal of the match, converting a free-kick before both teams added two goals apiece.
Cranbourne dominated by winning the majority of clearances, and was able to win the ball back off Berwick because of its persistent pressure.
The Eagles kicked the last four goals of the term – through Jarrod Murphy, Ryan Jones, Marc Holt and Jones again – to hold a 28-point lead at the first change.
A primary reason for Cranbourne’s lead was its goalkicking accuracy, with the Eagles slotting seven straight goals, which is significant considering the team was shooting at 56 per cent during the year.
Early goals to Caleb Tiller, Holt, Fletcher – who outmarked three defenders – and Matthew Rus rapidly increased Cranbourne’s lead.
Vergim Faik’s two quick goals momentarily dragged Berwick back into the game, but the Eagles responded with three goals to lead by 56 points at the long break.
A calamitous play by Jason Rahilly captured Berwick’s struggles; the Wickers veteran dropped a simple mark, and in an attempt to win the ball back, gave away a free-kick and then a 50-metre penalty which led to an easy Murphy goal.
The match was halted late in the second term after Berwick’s Chris McKay was injured in a marking contest.
The youngster bravely flew for the ball and crashed heavily into the turf and it took 10 minutes to remove him from the field.
Berwick enjoyed the majority of ball possession in the opening 10 minutes of the third term and attacked freely, but was constantly repelled by Cranbourne’s defence.
Curtise Barker booted two impressive goals as the Eagles piled on six goals to two.
Although Berwick didn’t quit the contest, Cranbourne was just so polished, poised and determined that they made it look so easy.
Berwick continued to struggle in the final term as Cranbourne added a further five goals to run away massive winners in front of a sparse audience.
A steady stream of patrons and vehicles departed the arena during the third term, leaving the crowd at the final siren resembling one at a practice match.
It was difficult to pick holes in Cranbourne’s performance; the sheer brilliance was highlighted by the fact that the match was played under difficult conditions.
“We were pretty solid at the footy, which was good,” Cranbourne coach Doug Koop said. “The boys are pretty committed at this point in time.”
Andre Young was a key player for Cranbourne and despite missing large chunks of the second part of the season, he was able to come into the team and contribute significantly in the back half.
Unsung heroes Matthew Rus and Matthew Thompson gave the Eagles plenty of drive, while Caleb Tiller was conspicuous.
Barker and Ryan Jones (three goals) starred in the midfield.
Captain Holt booted six goals, while Jarrod Murphy slipped under the Wickers’ guard to kick five.
“Holt has been good all year for us, which continued on in the finals,” Koop said.
“(Murphy) made the most of his opportunities and played very well.”
Cranbourne has another bye before the 24 September grand final.
“It’s like playing SuperRules, really,” Koop said.
“But the boys have adapted well. A couple probably need the bye, so hopefully come the final, they’ll be 100 per cent right.”
It was a devastating loss for Berwick.
“We were never in the game,” Berwick coach Dean Rice said.
“They pretty much won every position on the ground. They came ready to play and they were keen to atone for what happened last year, and we just couldn’t match their intensity.”
Rice was disappointed with the umpiring.
“I’d have to question the Southern Umpires allocation,” he said.
“Why do they have kids, with no experience, umpiring a second semi-final? I’m a bit staggered by that. I’m not sure they were biased towards any team, but they struggled all day. I’m not sure if I’m allowed to say that, but I will. I understand you want to blood the young umpires, but surely you’d put one or two experienced umpires in, and not just all kids.”
Berwick’s best performer was David Van Diemen, who was spirited against Holt and despite conceding numerous goals, he contested doggedly.
Young gun Kristian Meredith worked hard, captain Jason Kelly played well in defence and Andrew Tuck collected many possessions.
“Kristian was on Justin Berry,” Rice said.
“Justin had a bit of the ball, but I don’t think he was damaging at any time of the game.”
DVD (Van Diemen) did a good job on (Marc) Holt under that much ball coming into the forward line.
“Holt probably should have kicked 12 or 14 goals. Our backline stood up for most of the day. It was just disappointing that other parts of our team didn’t stand up.”
Tom Andrews and Jason Rahilly were strong in the clinches.
Vergim Faik was Berwick’s sole multiple goalkicker, with three majors from limited opportunities.
