The Suns delivered a scintillating second-quarter display in Sunday’s Western Football League division 2 elimination final to secure a slice of history.
The 34-point triumph over Braybrook at Yarraville Oval marked the club’s first finals win in the second tier and set up a semi-final appointment with West Footscray this weekend.
The Suns claimed the 2023 division 3 premiership before the league last year moved to a two-division senior structure.
The Roger Hand-coached side piled on seven goals to one in the second term to sink the Brookers.
While Braybrook narrowly won the second half, the 40-point deficit at the main break proved too great to overcome as the Suns prevailed 17.14 (116)-12.10 (82).
“We played some pretty polished footy in the second,” Hand said.
“We started OK, missed a couple of opportunities, but I felt like we really grew into the contest in the second quarter and were a little bit more fierce at the footy and maybe locking the ball in the forward half, which gave us repeat opportunities. From a coaching perspective, it was a good effort.
“We started to get a bit of use (through the midfield) and I thought we transitioned the ball a little bit better as well.
“I just felt like our mids got on top through that period, and just our ability to not be defending and just rebounding out was really good, so we were able to control most of that quarter and put a bit of a gap between us and them.”
Hand heaped praise on Josh Foster for his efforts across half-back, while big man Michael Ryan dominated the hitouts.
Josh Harris, Matthew Wright, Daniel O’Leary and Kyle De Rose were others to impress.
The Suns will next face the Roosters, who went down to North Footscray by 23 points in Saturday’s qualifying final.
West Footscray have won both meetings between the clubs this season, powering to a 40-point victory in round five and prevailing by 14 points in round 14.
But Hand said his team was hopeful of a different outcome in this weekend’s sudden-death final.
“They got us really well early in the year and were just a little bit too slick for us,” he said.
“The last game went down to the last part of the last quarter at West’s ground. I don’t feel like we’re that far off in that contest.
“We’ve got a few players back now and we’re probably playing as good a footy as we’ve played for the year, so it should be a really interesting contest. I think we can turn that result around.”
The Suns bowed out in the opening week of finals last year after finishing fifth.
They finished fourth this year with a 10-8 win-loss record, and Hand said Sunday’s win meant the season could be viewed a success.
“With the injuries we’ve had, and the absence of Dean Cachia as a power forward and a few of the other players we’ve got out, I feel like anything from here on in is a bonus,” he said.
