Glenorden captain Chris Scudamore had no shortage of motivation
entering Saturday’s Western Region Football League division 2 grand
final.
He is a man who takes pride in his own performance, letting his
actions speak through his willingness to sacrifice his body in the quest
to get his hands on a premiership medallion.
PICTURE GALLERY: Glenorden premiers!
Glenorden wins premiership in style
Glenorden premiers – the coach
Glenorden premiers – the unsung hero
A solidly built onballer adept at ground level and surprisingly
strong overhead, he is a vital cog in a quality Hawks’ midfield due to
his natural ball-winning ability and head-over-the-ball approach.
Captaincy is an honour that he talks about with pride.
If Scudamore felt compelled to pay back Hawks coach Nick Diker for
receiving the captaincy, what better way to show his appreciation than
to do so with the ultimate reward hanging from his neck.
“I’ve never felt like this before,” Scudamore said after the grand-final win over Parkside.
“I’ve never been a premiership captain and I was never captain at my old club. It means a lot to me.”
Scudamore had a fire in the belly entering the grand final of a kind that had not been evident at any other point in his career.
Memories of a “rough two years” spurred him on.
Missing out on the Hawks’ return to the finals last year through suspension hurt.
And he was a bit miffed by the assessment of radio commentators that his 17-1 side could be mentioned as underdogs in the season decider.
In fact, Scudamore says the blemish of losing against Parkside in
their last regular season meeting was a reminder the Hawks players
needed to “know that we’re beatable” after taking almost all before them
over the course of 19 games leading into the big one.
“I was like, ‘This is a bit shocking,” he said of his reaction to
his side being labelled underdogs despite winning the minor premiership
and taking the direct route to the grand final. “We were underdogs
today, so that made it even sweeter. We were that more geed up after
that.”
Scudamore, talking amid the frenzy of post-match celebrations, could not wipe the smile off his face.
He admitted that the feeling of being a premiership winner “hadn’t sunk in yet”.
Scudamore was just relieved to come out on the winning side of the
ledger after never-say-die Parkside kept coming at the Hawks in the
middle period of the match.
If he was to nitpick a flaw in this near-perfect side, it was that it often had a quarter fade out.
So he looks back on the Hawks’ undisciplined second term as a black spot in the game, but one that did not ruin their day.
“Our second quarter was our quarter off and it scared us a bit going into half-time,” Scudamore said.
“It’s probably our biggest weakness – only playing three quarters of footy.”
All’s well that ends well – and the all-conquering Hawks are division-2 premiers for the second time in eight years.
