Tara Murray
Old Paradians didn’t know what to expect when they joined the Northern Football League division 3 competition this year.
Making a grand final certainly wasn’t what they were expecting, but it became a reality on Saturday.
For the second time in three weeks, the Raiders proved too strong for Mernda and this time the reward was a grand final spot.
Raiders coach Ben Turner said it was still a bit of a dream.
“We can’t believe it being our first season in the NFL,” he said. “We went into the first game of the season with the unknown.
“To get where we’ve got is remarkable. We didn’t know the lay of the land or what things looked like.
“We’re pretty excited as a foody club and we’ll see how this week goes.”
After beating Mernda in the first week of finals, the Raiders took plenty of confidence into the preliminary final.
In windy conditions, the Raiders had the first half they were after.
“We were against the wind in the first quarter,” he said. “We defended really well and did a lot right and we were able to keep them goalless.
“At quarter time we were upbeat and had done a good job and put ourselves in a strong position in the game.”
After a good first quarter, the Raiders kicked 10 second quarter goals to lead by 57 points at half time.
Turner said the message at half time the job was only half down and they had to keep level heads.
They were able to do that in a fairly even second half to win, 7.12 (114)-7.11 (53).
“We still had two quarters to play and anything can happen,” he said. “At three quarter time we still had a good lead and it was going to be pretty tough for them.
“The boys were able to score in the last quarter and put the game to bed which was nice.”
Anthony Carfari and Lewis Franz kicked three goals each for the Raiders.
Turner said Blair Healy, who played a number of roles both in attack and defence, and Noah Whittle, who came back into the side, both had good games along with Tom Cooper.
He said their midfield was also pretty strong.
For the Demons, Jayden Bell was the only multiple goal kicker with two.
He was named their best alongside Jake Bennett and Kyle Yankos.
The Raiders now face Fitzroy Stars in the grand final.
The Stars won the semi final match up between the teams, but the Raiders came home hard with seven last quarter goals to nearly snatch the win.
Turner said they were keen for the challenge. The game will be held Saturday at Lalor Reserve.
“If the game [semi final] gone a different way and being a 10 goal margin there would be a different vibe.
“We take a lot of confidence in and so will they. It’ll be a great week and an opportunity to win the flag.”
