Manor Lakes has earned the admiration of the Western Region Football League division 2 for a remarkable inaugural season, even if the fairytale was not completed.
The Storm’s dream run came to an end with a nine-point loss to
finals-hardened Parkside Magpies in the preliminary final at Crofts
Reserve on Sunday.
PICTURE GALLERY: Manor Lakes v Parkside
DIVISION 1: Spotswood into seventh grand final in a row
It took the Magpies three cracks of the whip this season to
finally overcome the Storm, having lost to the upstarts in their
previous two encounters.
This was no stroll in the park, either.
The Storm might have trailed by three goals at three-quarter time, but in most eyes it was in the box seat as it would kick with the aid of a strong five-goal breeze in the last quarter.
Even Parkside coach Nathan Juegan felt his side’s lead was in
danger. But the Storm could not score when it counted, snuffed out by a
disciplined Magpie defence.
Storm president Gary Sheppard said it was the end of a season of which his club could be proud.
“It’s a bit of a hollow feeling, but I sort of talked to the boys
back at the club and told them to reflect on the whole season and not
just one game,” Sheppard said.
“They should hold their heads up proud, but make sure it hurts
because it’s only going to make it even sweeter when we eventually do
succeed and win the big one.”
The Storm has often been a slow starter in games this season, and that was again the case.
It trailed by 33 points at quarter time against the wind, but
quickly found its way back into the contest with the breeze at its back
in a six-goal-to-two second term.
The Storm could not afford a repeat of the first quarter and tightened the screws.
It restricted the Magpies to three goals in what Sheppard described as his side’s “best quarter of football for the year”.
Too bad for the Storm that the Magpie defensive efforts went one
better in the final term, keeping the opposition to a single goal in a
defensive display Juegan described as the best he had seen in his decade
at Parkside.
It was always going to take nothing short of Parkside’s best to
shrug off the persistent Storm, and that is something of which Sheppard
can be mightily proud.
“Whether it was nerves or pressure or both, I’m not too sure – we just couldn’t get over the line in the end,” he said.
The Storm’s reserves will meet Parkside in Sunday’s WRFL grand final.
