By Dongyun Kwon
Healesville Junior Football Club (HJFC) U13 Boys finally won the premiership for the first time after the frustrations of the last two years.
The team have been together for about eight years through which they could build up a strong camaraderie.
Lee D’Alterio has coached the boys from the Auskick level.
The coach said the team have played competitive football for three years as the competitive football with the ladders and finals starts from under 11.
“We made it to the finals in the last two seasons but we lost at the preliminary final both times,” D’Alterio said.
“Two years ago, we lost by one point, and last year, we lost by over a couple of goals.”
The experience of two failures at the finals gave the team a lesson ‘You need to bring everything when it comes to finals’, which led them to glory this year.
“You need to be really focused on the game. You need to be competitive, determined and physical,” the coach said.
“You can get easily beaten when you don’t expect it.”
HJFC U13 Boys had only one loss during the season, and dramatically Mount Evelyn, the only team who defeated the Healesville boys, became the opponent for the grand final.
D’Alterio said the biggest crisis of his team this year was the loss against Mount Evelyn.
“That reset our season. That showed us that it wasn’t going to be easy and we needed to work very hard towards the grand final,” he said.
“We’ve got a good rivalry with Mount Evelyn. Every time we play against them, it’s a good challenge.
“We beat them twice during the year and they beat us once.”
The focus of the team was improvement and enjoyment.
The team trained for an hour and a half on Thursday afternoon focusing on fitness, skills and game planning.
“This season was very enjoyable, and the boys put a lot of effort in,” D’Alterio said.
“It was good for their hard work to pay off.”
HJFC U13 Boys beat Emerald in the semi-final scoring 103 points while not losing any point, and Mount Evelyn in the grand final with a score of 44:8.
