Tara Murray
Mernda took the lessons learned from a first up Northern Football League division 3 grand final spot.
Having started slowly in their semi final loss to Laurimar, the Demons had a second chance to make it through to the decider for the first time since it won the division 3 title in 2012.
Facing the Old Eltham Collegians, the Demons were able to take a small lead into quarter time.
With that under their belt, the Demons were able to break the game open in the second quarter with three goals to one in the second quarter.
The margin stayed steady in the third quarter, before finishing the game off strongly with five final quarter goals to win, 12.10 (82)-6.10 (46).
Demons coach Rob Fletcher said it was a great feeling for the group to make it through to the one-day in September.
He said that they had done a lot of work during the week to make sure the group was good to go this week.
“We had 18 players play their first senior finals match,” he said. “Now they have a finals win under their belt which is great.
“I thought we started off nervous last week. Jarrod King, our assistant coach who is the brother of Jake King, has played a lot of finals footy and worked with the group with what was expected in finals.
“Jarrod took on that role and told them that it was another game of football which was really good.”
After a poor start last week, Fletcher said they were keen to make sure they didn’t do it again this week.
He was happy with how the group went about it.
“We started well and we were ready to play,” he said. “We controlled it all day.
“It helped having Shannon Bennett back in the back six to steady us.”
William Crouch kicked three goals for the Demons, while Michael Evans kicked two goals.
Fletcher said the likes of Evans, Jesse Gulefo and Joel Harris in the back line were some of their standouts in the win.
The Demons now face Laurimar in the grand final, with the Power having the week.
Fletcher said they are keen to get some revenge against the Power for the earlier finals loss.
“There’s still a big job to go,” he said.
“We now have a little bit of experience under our belts in finals and it’s just another game of footy.”
While the Demons seniors got the win, their under-19s and reserves sides were both knocked out after slow starts.
