Well two years ago the Swanies were beaten in the 2008 Grand Final by Subiaco, so this year was our chance to break our Premiership drought which had lasted two decades. This year we were taking on Claremont Tigers who were the minor premiers with only two loses all year, one of them against our Black ducks funnily enough!
So the stage was set for a ripper Grand Final with Claremont showing $1.21 at the TAB, and the Black n' Whites coming in at a nice $3.90. So with a $6 outlay you were looking at a pack of salt n' vinegar chips, and a beaut six pack of Jim beam n' cola... not a bad little winner if I m
ight say so myself. The only problem was having to beat a deadset champion side like Claremont, but stranger things have happen in life.... like the Swanies making the Final in the first place. So I bundled three of the kiddies into the commodore and set off to the magnificent Subiaco Oval, home of the wooden spooners West Coast eagles and the famous Fremantle Dockers.Here's the little nevilles outside Subiaco Oval on a beaut barmy 22 degree day, with the sun shining could you ask for a more ripper
day....no way. This was your's truly's second time to the stadium but the first time for all the kiddies, and it was going to become one that we wouldn't forget easily. The little ones were just blown away with the size of this place, see were use to watching the Black Ducks at places like our home ground (Steel blue oval) where we normally would pack out the place with a crowd of about 2,500. But after saying that we did have two matches of over 4000 this year, and fairdinkum at home in our last game against East Perth we had 11,251 stone the bloody crows there's not that many people live in Bassadean! Fairdinkum, but here today we saw our largest crowd ever as the attendance came in at 24,638!!!! Crikey mate.
So here are the nevilles on there old fashioned wooden seats in the 2 tier Subiaco road stand, no creature comforts like new-age plastic seats for my mob... if it was good enough for your's truly to sit on them at Macquarie United matches it's good enough for them. And by the way it was cheaper!! Well it did cost me friggin' $40 as it was, strewth I didn't even pay that much when I last took the misses out for dinner, but even that night the misses went for the most expensive thing on the menu.... a friggin' Big Mac!
But as for the match it was the greatest Grand Final in WAFL history, fairdinkum it was something worth spending that much money to have a gander at. The first Quarter wasn't all that great as we missed shot after shot at goals, and when your playing a team thats only been beaten twice you need to hit the spot. But after the siren it was Claremont winning 3.3 21 to the Swanies 1.6 12, then we started playing better and finished the half with 5.10 40 to Claremont 5.6 36. The third Quarter was neck to neck with the Swanies in frount with 9.15 69, and the Tigers 9.11 65. Crikey what a close match and it was unreal to here the crowd whenever a Swan tackled a Tiger, the crowd would go up as one. it was just amazing to watch as the Swanies played together just like anything you see in the AFL level.
Just have a squizz at this beaut goal during the match...
So with a drink and a hotdog in their little tummies the kiddies were in their element, and of cause they loved watching the footy as well. For the Swanies we had a beaut mob of players like Richmond castaway Thomas Roach with 22 possessions, Werribee boy Wayde Twomey 21 possessions and captain and old Midland Brick shed's boy Josh Roberts with 20 possessions, layed a ripper foundation for the fellas to work off. But the player of the match and our year, was an old fella (27) by the name of Andrew Krakouer who joined the club a few years ago from Richmond Footy Club. He had 40 possessions, 29 kicks, 11 handballs, 11 marks and kicked 4 goals, which handed him the Simpson Medal for best on ground.
But the last Quarter would become the greatest in WAFL History with the lead changing six times, Andrew Foster kicked two goals in a minute to put the tigers in frount. We then drove the ball down to their end with every player running about like chocks with their heads chopped off, then just like when Mosses parted the water every player either went left or right and left one little fella all by himself. The kick in was spot on and he took a ripper mark about 15 out in frount, it was our little kiddie Stephen Coniglio (16.. a future No1 draught pick) who kicked the goal and put the Swanies in froun
t again (Please almighty God ring that final siren!!!!). Then Claremont took a massive mark in frount by Crawford, fairdinkum their must of been 56 Swanies went up for the ball, but as they all came falling down one friggin' Tiger was still standing with the ball in his hands... bugger! he then went on to put it between the big posts to put the tigers back in frount (Please almighty God don't ring that friggin' siren!!!!). That put the Tigers in frount by five points with the clock ticking over at the 29 minute mark, then with the ball being kicked all over the place and with Claremont with the pill. They kicked a poor shot which was jumped on by the Swanies and who was the Swan that had it.... you guessed it Simpson Medal winner Krakouer, who had been as busy as a centipede on a hot plate all day, snapped at goal from about 30 out and about 24,638 people watched as the ball sailed through the large sticks to give the Swanies a lead with 30 seconds to go! And fairdinkum I reckon every Swanie supported thought the same thing... Please almighty God ring the friggin' siren!!!! And with our heart rate's going haywire we watched what seemed like twenty bloody minutes, as the ball was won then lost then won again till we heard that beautiful noise YOU BLOODY BEAUTY!!!!We had won the unwindable Grand Final and the crowd went crazy, to win a match in the dying seconds is unreal but to win a Grand Final in the dying seconds is just unbelievable! we won by ONE POINT!
Claremont Tigers 14 15 99
Swan Districts 14 16 100
Our coach Brian Dawson who was coaching his last match for us, praised Krakouer's ability and that last goal. 'He's won everything, he's won every media award, he's won the Sandover, he's got the Simpson and he's got a premiership medal to boot'. 'If someone was writing the script, I suppose they got it just about right','It was a crazy game, a great spectacle all day. It was just a real hard scrap as you probably expect Grand Finals to be. Claremont are horribly unlucky to lose a game by a point'. And as you can see the nevilles just went off! all I can say is
YOU BLOODY BEAUTY!!!
So what a great day for the little Swanie nevilles to witness, and you could say they wrote a little page into the Paul Family History Book. To win a Grand Final by one friggin' point in the last 30 seconds! Strewth you couldn't of asked for a better way to finish a ripper day out at Subiaco Oval..... GO THE SWANIES