By Lance Jenkinson
Wyndhamvale is one step away from an immediate return to the Western Region Football League’s top flight.
The Falcons have set up a showdown with Yarraville Seddon in the division 2 grand final at Avalon Airport Oval on Sunday after surviving a tight preliminary final to beat Parkside by seven points at Pennell Reserve on Saturday.
Falcons playing-coach Chris Moreland paid tribute to the work his team has done to get to this point.
“I’m overwhelmed at the moment,” he said.
“I’m just allowing it to soak in.
“The whole club is up and about and it’s just so exciting to be a part of. We’ve worked hard for this and it’s a good reward.
“I’m just so proud of the boys.”
Wyndhamvale had a dream home-and-away season back in the second tier.
The Falcons went 17-1 to clinch the minor premiership.
While everything ran smoothly for the Falcons in the regular season, it has been far from the case in the finals.
PHOTO GALLERY: Wyndhamvale vs Parkside
They lost the second semi-final to second-placed Yarraville Seddon and despite going into the game against Parkside as overwhelming favourites, they had to scrap all the way to get over the line.
At half-time, Wyndhamvale trailed in the low scoring game by two goals and even faced a four-point deficit at three-quarter time.
The character the Falcons needed to secure the victory made it all the more special for Moreland.
“We just kept fighting and fighting,” he said. “We really wanted to make sure we’ve given it everything to get to next week.”
Wyndhamvale kicked away with 3.5 to 1.0 in the last quarter.
The Falcons’ big guns took over the game, such as Bol Kolang in the ruck and Jy Lambley, Daniel Smith and Tyler Tessari on the ball.
“Those four really stood out during that last quarter,” Moreland said.
“I put the heat on them at half-time and said ‘I need more from you’.
“In that last quarter, they really stood up and it was really inspiring for the rest of the group.”
Moreland put Wyndhamvale’s rough start in the match down to two factors.
The Falcons did not adapt to the wet and windy conditions and played “a bit cute” early in the game. But all’s well that ends well for Wyndhamvale and it will go through to a mouth-watering grand final with Yarraville Seddon.
It is a genuine toss of the coin game between the top-ranked finalist Wyndhamvale and the pre-season favourites Yarraville Seddon.
“I’ve played in enough grand finals to know that anyone can win on the day, anything can happen, it’s just game on,” Moreland said.
