Healesville U14 Boys wrapped up the 2025 season undefeated, becoming the back-to-back premier.
Taking the premiership-winning team over from the previous coach, Lee D’Alterio, the new coach, Clint Barclay, said they all played well together, even from the beginning of the season.
“They won the grand final last year, so they all knew what it was about and how each other played,” Barclay said.
“This group’s been together for a long time.”
The team eventually won the premiership last year after having experienced frustration in the finals for two seasons in a row.
In this season, after tasting the sweetness of lifting the premiership flag, the boys became more desperate to defend the title.
Up to the grand final on 17 August, the team never lost or drew any games.
Unlike the home and away season where they beat opponents easily with big score gaps, the final series challenged the Healesville boys to get to where they wanted.
In the first round of finals, the Healesville U14 Boys won Mount Evelyn by 11 points, 7.7.49 to 6.2.38.
The young Bloods took on Mount Evelyn again at the grand final, where the opponent had prepared for the game with lots of effort for redemption, taking lessons from the previous loss.
“Before the game, we had a chat about how it was going to go and how I thought the game was going to turn out and progress,” Barclay said.
“We knew they were going to come at us hard, tough and physical and push us, and it was going to be a tight, close game.
“The boys just embraced it and knew what they had to do because we played them a few times during the season.”
Leading up to the last quarter, they were winning by eight points.
In the last quarter, Mount Evelyn tried everything for a come-from-behind win.
Despite the hard efforts by the opposition, Healesville U14 Boys was able to keep a one-point lead until the final whistle.
The final score was Healesville 6.7.43 to Mount Evelyn 6.6.42.
“It was about a 20-point lead at one stage, and then towards the end, they started coming back at us,” the coach said.
“For the last five minutes, our back line was under the pump.
“I was super proud of the boys and impressed about how they went about it.”
When asked about the secret to being invincible, Barclay said “hard work, persistence to get better at the skills”.
“We just did training for how we wanted to move the ball and score goals every week, and just believed in the way we’re going to play, and we knew our best footy could get the job done,” Barclay said.
