Greensborough celebrated its 17th Northern Football League division one premiership long and hard over the weekend, a win that was a quarter of a century in the making.
The Boro and Heidelberg were the two best sides all season, rarely dropping out of the top two, and were deserving combatants on grand final day.
The Tigers went in as favourites, with plenty of finals experience and three close wins over Greensborough throughout the season.
But Greensborough put on a terrific display of football to claim its first flag since 1989, winning 13.14 (92) to 6.15 (51).
The emotion at Preston City Oval on Saturday was palpable, with tears and beers flowing before the final siren even sounded.
Coach Robert Hyde, a stalwart of Greensborough, strode down to the bench with about five minutes remaining, doing his best to hide a satisfied smile as the throng of supporters cheered: “Onya, Hydey!”
You would have struggled to find a happier man on the planet than Hyde as the presentation wound up.
Hyde first played juniors with the club 50 years ago, and was captain-coach of their back-to-back 1983-84 premierships.
His son, Matthew, was one of the co-captains of the victorious team, while his 85-year-old father Norm, a life member and premiership player himself, was watching on.
“It’s a bit of a fairytale for me,” the proud coach said.
“I think I’m feeling relief. I’m a bit stunned, you know. To be involved again, to do this with my son and my father watching on, it’s incredible. I find it hard to believe sometimes.”
Kicking against the wind in the first quarter, Greensborough got out to a two-point lead at quarter time, with Heidelberg wasting its opportunities in front of goal.
By half-time the lead had stretched to 31, with five goals to one rousing the green-and-white contingent of the crowd.
Heidelberg came hard in the third term, but effectively kicked itself out of the contest with 2.8. The Boro booted two timely goals to hold a 26-point lead at three-quarter time.
Last year’s grand final saw a remarkable turnaround in the final quarter, as Bundoora came from 33 points down to take an unbelievable 29-point win.
But there would be no such heroics from the Tigers this year. Two goals to Jack Johnston and one to Rhys Boyden sealed the title.
It capped off what was nearly a perfect day for the Boro. The under 19s won their premiership in the morning, while there was heartbreak in the reserves, who lost on the last kick of the day: up by five points in the dying seconds, West Preston-Lakeside’s Corey Ray threw the ball on the boot and the siren sounded as the ball sailed through the goals.
“It’s great for the competition,” Hyde said of his side’s victory. “We play a lot of juniors and have a lot of home-grown players. Macleod is the same. It’s good for the comp and hopefully that continues.”
Boro president Russell Grubb summed up the day.
“There were people crying in the rooms on Saturday night,” he said. “Seeing all the older people in the club, having thought they’d never see it again, it was pretty emotional.”
