By Anne-Marie Ebbels
A wintry day greeted the players at Woori Yallock for the grand finals.
The ground was showing the wear and tear with the number of games played over the last few weeks with a few muddy areas.
The cold and wet conditions made ball slippery and challenging for players to keep their feet.
First up the Reserves took on Belgrave.
Healesville got the jump on Belgrave early kicking with the wind going into the first break with a 14-point lead as the hail hit.
Belgrave hit back in the second quarter keeping Healesville scoreless.
Healesville struggled get the ball past half forward to create any scoring shots and Belgrave went into the half time break with 11-point lead.
A similar story in the third quarter with Healesville unable to get the ball into good scoring positions.
Healesville held Belgrave during the third quarter with the margin 12 points at the final break.
The final quarter proved tough with Healesville once again struggled to get the ball into the forward line to score.
Belgrave made the most of their opportunities to win the game by 17 points.
In the Seniors game, Healesville played Warburton-Millgrove with Healesville getting the early score on the board keeping Warburton-Millgrove scoreless in the first quarter to go into the first break with a 13-point lead.
The rain came in the second quarter with a bit of hail and the temperature dropped as the afternoon progressed.
Healesville continued to dominate the possession with Warburton-Millgrove finding it difficult to find any space to work in.
Healesville didn’t capitalise on the scoreboard with the weight of possession going into half time with a 12-point lead.
The third quarter was like the second quarter with the Healesville having most of the ball and increased their lead to 21 points at three quarter time.
The rain had cleared by the final quarter and Healesville finally started to put the score on the board that had been threatening all game with a five-goal quarter to run out winners by 52 points.
In the lead up to the grand finals the league held their Division 1 awards night with Healesville having five players in both the Men’s and Women’s football teams of the year, top players and the Coach of the Year in the Netball team of the year, Bailey Rutley and Tyler Tweedie, the leading goal kickers in U18s and Reserves respectively and eight players in the top ten in their Best and Fairest counts to cap off a very successful season for the club.
Football
Senior Men Healesville 63 defeated Warburton-Millgrove 11 Best: L Greenwood, J Savage, L Daly, A Edwards, J Bates, N Mende
Reserves Men Healesville 23 defeated by Belgrave 40 Best: R Hay, C Young, M Renouf, T Campbell, D Ebbels, M Evans
