The elusive senior flag Wyndhamvale has longed is within reach after the club moved through to the Western Region Football League division 2 grand final – its first shot at a season decider in 21 years.
The Falcons were brazen in their 62-point semi-final thumping of West Footscray at Hogans Road Reserve on Saturday.
Their fans daring to dream of the ultimate glory as their heroes strode confidently into a grand final they will enter as hot favourites – no matter who they face.
The Falcons will freshen up and wait patiently to see who their opponent will be – West Footscray or North Footscray.
The decider will be the Falcons’ second senior grand final – their one and only was a loss to Flemington by 48 points in the now-defunct A2 section.
Keeping a lid on it is the task of first-year senior coach Troy Beamond.
“It’s a fantastic achievement but it’s only a semi-reward for all of the hard work so far,” he said. “The way we looked at it, all year we’ve been talking about ticking boxes and today’s just another box that we ticked – but there’s still one massive box that we’ve got to tick in two weeks.
“Whoever makes it and plays us in the grand final, they’ll be confident because they’ve got to win to get there … they’ll be up and about and ready to go. We’re by no means satisfied.”
There was no hiding the joy of Falcon fans on Saturday.
They have seen their club stave off the threat of extinction and endure years of barren seasons – even the good times in recent years have seen failed finals runs.
While the supporters will lap up the days leading to the grand final, Beamond will be getting minds back on the job.
The process-driven side impressed Beamond with attention to detail in the victory over West Footscray on Saturday.
“The boys really responded to the challenges that were raised for them,” he said.
The Falcons kept the league’s most potent attack to three goals in a stunning defensive performance. Tyler Tessari and James Damjanovski were huge factors for the Falcons across half-back.
Even Mitch Gough, who conceded all three goals to Damian Yze, was praised by his coach for limiting the star forward’s impact.
The defensive workload was not solely shouldered by the defence.
“We base our football on team defence,” Beamond said.
“We limited their outside run and our half-forwards sacrificed their game a little bit to stop their run.”
Nathan Reschke and Chris Jones were a menacing big-man duo while Devan Ellis and Daniel Bunworth feasted on their service.
Paul O’Shea put on the finishing touches with four goals and brought up his 50th for the season in the process.
In Sunday’s cut-throat first semi-final, North Footscray fought back from 17 points down at three-quarter-time to beat Yarraville-Seddon by 14 points, setting up a preliminary final with West Footscray at Hogans Road on Saturday.
