Juniors
Currie 5.4, 6.6, 14.8, 18.8 (116)
Grassy 1.0, 1.1, 1.2, 5.2 (32)
GOALS, Currie: L. Davison 6, B. Brooker 5, C. Keeler 4, O. Brooker, A. Stefanidis, S. Laskey
Grassy: G. Wright 2, L. Frosi, D. Melitz, L. Lancaster
BEST, Currie: C. Keeler, L. Davison, S. Laskey, C. Raff, H. Raff, B. Brooker, M. Laskey.
Grassy: G. Wright, L. Frosi, K. Williams-Harding, J. Taylor, C. Stellmaker, D. Melitz, T. Hudson, P. Cole
Coach Shane Keeler said it was a great all team effort.
Seniors
Currie 5.0, 8.8, 12.15, 20.24 (144)
Grassy 1.3, 1.4, 3.7, 3.8 (26)
GOALS, Currie: J. Strugnell 5, J. Youd 3, B. Wilkinson 2, D. Cox 2, D. Muir 2, M. Sainsbury 2, A. Castles, J. Williams, T. Graham, J. Jakowenco
Grassy: T. Forrest 2, B. Reed
BEST, Currie: D. Cox, D. Baer, D. Clemons, T. Graham, A. Castles, P. Johnson, J. Youd
Grassy: S. Newson, B. Reed, M. Monson, D. Archer, A. Wardlaw, R. Smith
Our grand final between Currie and Grassy saw us start the game with the teams and umpires lining up for the singing of the national anthem by Jennifer Coombe and Crystal Lee.
We had Mario Ring and Eric Morgan from the Southern Umpires Association umpiring with our local Wayne Hamer. 55 year old Mario is the chairman of the SUA and took up umpiring after playing football for 25 years and has been umpiring now for 11 years having umpired in 9 grand finals.
Eric is 44 years old and has umpired since he left school. He had about 12 years out of umpiring and has got back into doing it again now for the last 9 years. He has umpired in numerous junior and reserve grand finals and this was his first senior grand final. He is also a life member of the SUA along with his dad.
This year we had Dwayne (Jigs) Denby doing the coin toss which Grassy won and elected to kick with the stiff breeze blowing to the eastern end of the oval.
It was a tight start for the first few minutes before Grassy ran the ball out of the back line to see Tristan Forrest kick the first goal for the game, which turned out to be their only goal for the quarter. Currie moved the ball well into their forward line against the wind for Ben Wilkinson to get a quick reply for Currie. Wilkinson was on the end of their second goal and then Jak Youd kicked their third. Grassy were getting the ball forward on a regular basis but the Currie back line in Duncan Clemons, Dylan Beecroft and Andy Castles were continually getting the ball out to see Currie kick another two goals for the quarter through Doug Cox and David Muir to see them 21 points up at quarter time kicking against the wind.
It looked like Currie would run away with the game when they had the advantage of the wind, but that was not the case as Grassy worked hard in the back line with Sam Newson, Tyler Rhodes, Rob Smith, Brady Rhodes, Adrian Weitjens and Damian Archer working overtime restricting Currie to just 3 goals for the quarter. Youd kicked his second while Andy Castles kicked his first and was having a good all round game taking some nice marks and delivering the ball well. Joel Williams who had been working hard up forward for Currie finally kicked his first for the game to see Currie 46 points up at half time.
The third quarter was going to be the telling quarter and Currie did all the telling. Grassy had lost Adrian Weitjens and Brady Rhodes which did not help their cause and Wayne Hamer had to pull out of umpiring as he went down with a crook calf muscle. Currie started well with consecutive goals to Jack Strugnell who had been pretty quiet up till then. Grassy suffered another blow when they lost Rob Smith and then a silly kick out by Archer gave Max Sainsbury the easiest of goals. Tom Graham kicked his first for the game which had seen Currie kick the last 12 goals before Grassy finally got their second on the board through Forrest. Grassy followed up with another to Bo Reed but that was their last goal of the game and saw them 62 points down at three quarter time.
Grassy just could not match Currie in the last quarter even though they tried hard. Brady Rhodes came back out with his ankle heavily strapped and continued to work hard but Currie used the wind well and kicked the next 8 goals to see them win by 118 points. Strugnell ended up with 5 for the game while James Jakowenco was pretty pleased to kick his first. Daniel Baer was another who was giving Currie plenty of use of the ball along with Patrick Johnson and Beau Lee-Keys. Sam Newson battled hard for Grassy all game as did Marty Monson who took some telling marks and did a great job in the ruck. Aaron Wardlaw, Damian Archer and Bo Reed also battled hard all game.
The score did not do Grassy justice as they played some good football but lacked badly up forward. Currie showed why they had been the best side all season with great team work and good ball handling skills to be the KIFA Premiers 2016.
Donald Sartori presented the winner of the Jim Sartori Medal for best player in the grand final and it went to Doug Cox of Currie from Sam Newson of Grassy.