Sandringham take out the VFL Premiership

Sandringham   83 defeated Werribee   74

Sandringham have been crowned the 2005 VFL Premiers, after defeating Werribee by nine points in a thrilling Grand Final, played at Optus Oval in perfect conditions on Sunday.

The Zebras dedicated their premiership victory to tsunami victim Troy Broadbridge, with both sides wearing red arm bands as a mark of respect for the ex-Melbourne and Sandringham player.

A third quarter blitz which saw Sandringham boot five goals to one set up the victory, with the Zebras winning back-to-back premierships for the first time in the club’s illustrious history.

Daniel Ward was sensational off the half-back line, giving the Zebras an enormous amount of drive and for his efforts was rewarded the Norm Goss Memorial Medal for best on ground.

Other players to shine for the Zebras were Matthew Warnock and Andy Biddlecombe in defence, who curbed the influence of key forwards James Podsiadly and Jade Rawlings exceptionally.

After being benched for the majority of the first half, the Liston medalist of 2001, Ezra Poyas came out firing in the second half and was one of the major reasons in the Zebra victory.

Scott Howard and Keiran McGuiness who were the best players for the Tigers, with McGuiness doing a sterling job in keeping six time Frosty Medal winner Nick Sautner to just one goal.

The first term was relatively even, with both sides overcoming the nerves which they had at the commencement of the match to produce an entertaining and free-flowing first quarter. Despite having the majority of play, the Zebras went in three points down at the first change.

The second term saw both sides play a tough brand of football, with the scores being low. Sandringham dominated the quarter but could not assert their dominance on the scoreboard, and were thanking Patrick Bowden for keeping the scores level at half time after the Tiger missed his after the siren kick.

As they say, the third quarter is the premiership quarter and this was to be no different, as the Zebras slammed on five goals to Werribee’s one, in a term which was simply superb. When going forward Sandringham could do no wrong, the highlight of the third term being a sensational running goal from Shannon Motlop, where after baulking three players through the midfield he ran to 60m and buried the goal with aplomb.

In stark contrast to the Zebras, every time Werribee went forward they would be fumbling, slipping and their disposal in the forward half was shocking to say the least. Going into the final change, Sandy held a 29-point lead.

After receiving a blast from coach Simon Atkins at three-quarter time, the Tigers came out and kicked the first two goals, to keep them in the hunt. The Zebras seemed to have put the margin out of reach, when 2005 Liston Medallist Paul Johnson kicked a sensational goal and then combined with David Gallagher to extend the lead back out to 29 points.

Three more quick goals cut the margin to nine points, but in the end the Zebras’ third term was just too strong.

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