The Pineapple Hotel Cup has landed on the Sunshine Coast for the first time after Noosa prevailed over Sandgate in yet another classic QAFL grand final at Hickey Park in Brisbane on Saturday.
In front of a large, vocal and highly passionate crowd, Noosa landed their first premiership since their 1997 success back in the days of their life in the Brisbane Australian Football League.
After a contest up there with the very best the second-tier competition has to offer, Noosa took the honours by 16.13 (109) to 15.12 (102).
So the pain ended for those staunch Tiger faithful as the ‘Up There Noosa’ finale to the club’s theme song received some serious air play.
It was simply a very good team edging out a good team, the unquestionable class of the Noosa runners holding a very slight edge over their gallant rivals.
For three quarters it was nip and tuck.
Sandgate looked the better side in the first term when they led 3.5 to 2.2 – a lead that should have been bigger because the Hawks did not convert numerous scoring chances.
Yet some magic up front from Noosa’s elusive Jeff Brain, with 2.1, kept the Tigers in touch.
The second term was a clinker, Noosa kicking 7.5 to 6.1 when the sides curiously scored in blocks of goals as firstly one, then the other, threatened to take control. Noosa’s livewire Jay Reynolds booted three goals in a telling six-minute spell, then surprise selection Brendan Forbes managed two for Sandgate in as many minutes.
But it was in the ‘premiership quarter’, the third, when Noosa started to turn the screws. They opened up a 15-point lead after seven minutes, had the same margin again after 12 minutes, only to have Sandgate claw their way back to be four points down at the final break.
The free-flowing style of the first half was not evident after half-time as an arm-wrestle of significant proportions broke out.
That’s when Noosa sealed their first flag in a dozen years. The Tigers springed to a 25-point lead after 21 minutes and the flag was heading up the Bruce Highway. Then again Sandgate responded and staged a belated comeback, reducing the lead to seven points after 27 minutes.
But they simply ran out of time.
It was, as successful coach Wayne Fletcher said, sheer persistence that edged the Tigers over the top of the Hawks. “Obviously in a grand final you expect pressure football and a few mistakes are going to be made,” he said. “But when we got our opportunities we made the most of them.
“We had a plan and everyone stuck to that plan and made contributions.”
Victory completed a three-year term of improvement by Noosa under Fletcher, who took the Tigers to third place in 2008, runners-up in 2009 and now champions.
Deflated Sandgate captain-coach Ben Long acknowledged the class of Noosa – and the seemingly endless on-ball options the Tigers had – was the difference in the end. “It was one of those games where it was always going to be close,” Long said. “I mean, the last time we played them (in the second semi-final) they got away a couple of times but we found ways to get back.
“I think (today) it was just their class that got them over the line.”
Long conceded the midfield was where the battle was going to be won or lost and in the end it was the energy of Noosa – engineered by outstanding duo Lucas Matthews and Luke Brauer, with cameos from diminutive Caleb Isles, Brooks Durdin and Jay Reynolds – that showed.
Brain finished with 4.2 and was the game’s best forward, although at the other end of the ground, Sandgate’s super veteran Danny Dickfos was outstanding, finishing with 3.2, not bad for a 39-year-old.
Noosa skipper Adam Bovalino also had a great game, capping his fourth season at the club with a flag that just may make up his mind about whether to retire on top or just may give him a hunger to go back-to-back. “We knew it was going to be close and they kept coming back,” said Bovalino of the see-sawing fortunes and recalling events of 2009 when Noosa lost the grand final to Palm Beach-Currumbin. “This club has waited a long time for a premiership and it was a fantastic effort from everybody out there today.
“Last weekend we went through the preliminary final and everybody did not want to feel like we did last year.
“So the hunger was inside us and we had the theme ‘go one better’, so we did that today.”
Last Modified on 10/12/2010 14:30