CATCH UP ON MORE FROM LVFNL GRAND FINAL DAY

MARONG'S long 33-year wait for Loddon Valley league premiership glory finally came to an end with a brutal grand final slaying of Bridgewater on Saturday.

In short, Marong did to Bridgewater what the Mean Machine had done to its opposition so often during its run of seven flags in a row between 2010 and 2016 and that's turn the grand final into a one-sided blowout with a 94-point winning margin.

The Panthers demolished the Mean Machine 19.11 (125) to 4.7 (31) at Maiden Gully's Marist College to cap an unforgettable day for the club, which earlier had also won the reserves and under-18 premierships to make it a clean sweep of the league's three football flags.

The slick and well-drilled Panthers had too much run and class for a Mean Machine side that had gallantly fought its way from the elimination final, with the toll of having to win three cut-throat finals to get through to Saturday finally catching up with Bridgewater.

On the other hand, any concerns the Panthers may have had about a lack of match play over the past month - Saturday was just their second game in 35 days - were quickly put to bed with a scintillating first quarter onslaught with the breeze to the scoreboard end.

Set up superbly from the half-back line, which would spend all day intercepting Bridgewater attacks and then sling-shoting the Panthers forward, Marong unleashed a 7.1 to 0.0 first quarter.

The lively Ryley Taylor took just two minutes to score Marong's first goal, while in stark contrast, it would take the Mean Machine 92 minutes and into the early stages of the final term before they had their first major on the board.

Taylor's opening goal came after he marked on the right hand point post and from deep in the pocket checksided the goal.

Three minutes later Taylor had his second goal out of a goalmouth scramble and the Panthers were away.

Enter Brandyn Grenfell.

The star Marong full-forward, who went into the grand final with 145 goals for the season, always loomed as a huge presence in the game and by quarter-time he had well and truly made his mark.

In an 11-minute blitz Grenfell capitalised on the quick and precise entry into the Marong forward 50 with four goals in succession - the first after he marked a pass from fellow forward Kain Robins 40m out.

The second came from a brilliant one-handed contested mark against opponent Lachlan Allison from a Ryley Taylor pass.

After Grenfell exerted his dominance early in the game, Mean Machine surprise inclusion Darren Clutton was giving the unenviable task of trying to contain the Panthers' spearhead.

Former Bridgewater skipper Clutton was brought in as the replacement for suspended midfielder Alex Pollock having played just two senior and two reserves games this year.

Already minus two of their key on-ballers in Pollock, who will have his two-game striking suspension from the preliminary final appealed on Tuesday, and Cal Prest (knee), it quickly got worse for the Mean Machine with injuries to Michael Brooks (compound fracture of finger) and defenders Zane Hoiles (groin) and Luke Harrison (knee).

Facing a 43-point deficit at quarter-time, the Mean Machine had to make inroads in the second term during its opportunity with the breeze.

But they couldn't as time and time again they were met with a seemingly unpassable wall of Marong players across half-back as Adam Ward, Richard Tibbett, David Johnstone and co constantly halted their attacking forays.

The Mean Machine could muster just 0.2 with the breeze for the quarter, while down the other end the Panthers added 4.3 to further take a stranglehold on the game.

Three of the goals were booted by Grenfell, giving him seven and with Taylor adding a third, the duo had combined for 10 of Marong's 11 goals at the main break - the other having been kicked by the crafty Cory Jacobs late in the first term.

With seven goals already to half-time Grenfell looked short odds to kick the first double-figure bag of goals in a grand final since Bridgewater's Kurt Ashman's 10 in the Mean Machine's 115-point romp over Calivil United in 2010.

That record 115-point grand final margin of Bridgewater's in 2010 was certainly looking under threat too at half-time with the Marong lead 68 points, 11.4 to 0.2.

And while there was no resting on their laurels in the Marong rooms at half-time, it was clear that Panthers' supporters would be able to enjoy the last hour of the game knowing what was to come at the final siren.

With the game done and dusted at half-time given the dominance in which the Panthers were exerting all over the ground, the main interest in the second half became just how big would the final margin be, would Marong hold Bridgewater goal-less and could Grenfell crack double figures?

The Panthers' onslaught continued in the third quarter as they added another six goals, including two more to Grenfell that took his tally to nine.

While the majority of his goals came from marks as he took full advantage of the silver service he was given, Grenfell also kicked them out of the ruck, with his ninth coming after he grabbed the ball from a boundary throw-in and snapped from 20m.

Grenfell looked poised to kick his 10^th late in the third quarter when he was awarded a free kick for a push in the back 20m out.

However, the ball spilled over the back to a waiting Nathan Devanny in the goalsquare, who soccered through the advantage goal.

Grenfell would later have two set-shots in the final quarter to get to 10, but missed them both and instead had to "settle" for nine in a performance that earned him the AFL Victoria Medal for best-on-ground.

By three quarter-time the Panthers had still held the Mean Machine goal-less and the margin was over 100 points as Marong led 110-3.

The Mean Machine finally broke their drought at the five-minute mark of the final term when skipper Andrew Collins, who battled hard against the odds all day playing mid/forward, converted a 25m set-shot after being held without the ball.

To their credit with the game having long been put out of reach, the Mean Machine did manage to outscore Marong in the final quarter, kicking 4.4 to the Panthers' 2.3 to get the final margin back under triple figures.

A rare highlight for the Mean Machine on a tough day was the youngest player in their team, wingman Darcy Wood, snapping the final goal of the game on his left foot.

Marong

7.1 11.4 17.8 19.11 (125)

Bridgewater

0.0 0.2 0.3 4.7 (31)

GOALS: Marong: B. Grenfell 9, R. Taylor 4, C. Jacobs 2, B. Gregg 1, C. Gregg 1, N. Devanny 1, J. McCaig 1. Bridgewater: A. Collins 2, D. Wood 1, L. Allison 1.

BEST: Marong: B. Grenfell, C. Gregg, J. Gadsden, R. Tibbett, R. Taylor, J. Hynes. Bridgewater: H. Donegan, J. Naughton, E. Pavlich, A. Collins, D. Wood, J. Symons.

AFL Victoria Medal: Brandyn Grenfell (Marong).

Played at Maiden Gully.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can access our trusted content: