Grant savours ultimate reward

FOUR years of hard work reaped the ultimate reward for Mitiamo coach Bill Grant on Saturday.Having taken over as Mitiamo coach in 2006 on the back of the club missing the finals for the first time since 2000, Grant set about rebuilding a Superoos’ list capable of delivering the club its fifth premiership.And that premiership has now arrived, after the Superoos blitzed Calivil United in the grand final, winning by 58 points, 22.11 (143) to 12.13 (85).“I’m really happy for the boys; they went out and did what they had to do today,’’ Grant said.“The boys have really taken on board everything we’ve tried to get them to do this year, and they have now got the rewards for it.’’The Superoos were superb both when they had possession, and also when the Demons had the ball.Mitiamo was clean and precise with its disposal, while its pressure and willingness to hunt the opposition forced the Demons to turn the ball over too often.The Superoos had two brilliant targets up forward in Ryan Haythorpe (eight goals) and VCFL medallist Alex Chapman (seven), but their backline was equally as impressive.The Demons had just two less inside 50s for the game than Mitiamo, but the Superoos’ defence, led by Joel Whybird, Garth Boldiston, Luke Mitchell, Ross Smith and premiership captain Scott Lawry was consistently able to repel Calivil United’s forward thrusts as it teamed together superbly.In the midfield, the performance of centreman Aaron McKean in setting the win up in the first half was also pivotal.Calivil United went into the grand final conceding an average score of just 63 per game this year, yet by half-time, Mitiamo already had a score of 89 on the board thanks to its accurate kicking of 14.5.“I was confident that if we could control the game early and get some goals on the board, it would set us up,’’ Grant said.“We’ve been kicking a lot of points this year, but today we kicked goals, which makes a hell of a difference.’’Grant joins Barry Pitson and Ash Wilson (1999), Darryl Blake (1979), Robert “Wiff’’ Muir (1977) and Ron Byrne (1967) as Mitiamo premiership coaches.