FOR the second year in a row Mitiamo will get a crack at ending Bridgewater’s reign of dominance in the Loddon Valley league.
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The Superoos earned another grand final shot at the six-time defending premier Mean Machine after beating Calivil United by 12 points in the preliminary final at Serpentine on Saturday.
The inaccurate Superoos prevailed 13.21 (99) to 13.9 (87) to advance to their second grand final in a row.
”Calivil kept coming at us all game… each time we’d get out to a couple of goal lead they would peg us back,” Mitiamo coach Justin Maddern said.
“It never felt comfortable until really late in the game when we were out by a couple of goals and it started to rain.”
The Superoos didn’t make it easy for themselves though with their inaccuracy of 13.21, which included 4.9 in the second quarter.
“It wasn’t our set-shot kicking, there were a lot of misses on the run, but it was just great to get the win… it was a big sigh of relief,” Maddern said.
After a couple of early misses Maddern kicked the one goal he needed to bring up 100 for the season during the second quarter when he marked and converted the set-shot.
Maddern finished with five goals for the game.
The Superoos spent part of the third quarter and last term with 17 players on the field after Kyle Patten (two goals) was yellow-carded and reported for striking Calivil United captain Ben Knight, meaning there will be a grand final week tribunal hearing.
The best player for the Superoos was star midfielder Doug Thomas, who kicked two goals.
“Dougie was super and probably set the game up for us in the third quarter with his attack on the ball,” Maddern said.
“We were getting beaten in the stoppages, so I put it on the midfield that we needed to get some clearances and he was the one who stood up.”
Fellow onballers Tyson Sidebottom and Aaron McKean were also in the best, co-captains Dylan Clohesy and Luke Lougoon again played well off half-back, as did ruckman/forward Mitch Sidebottom, who kicked two goals.
The Superoos had Tom Grant suffer a groin injury early, while after missing on Saturday Terry Reeves (knee) and Tom Campbell (hamstring) will be back in the selection mix for the grand final this week.
Saturday was the fourth time in as many meetings this season the Demons – who started well to lead by 12 points at quarter-time – have been beaten by the Superoos.
“We had our opportunities today, but we just played in patches again and couldn’t put four quarters together, which was frustrating,” Demons coach Anthony Dennis said.
The best for the Demons were Jonas Somerville in defence, Mitch Farmer (four goals), Evan Ritchie across half-back and the midfield and Phil Lobb (four goals).
