By Marc McGowan
THE Dandenong and District Junior Football League can officially lay claim to the best under-15 footballers in the state as of Saturday.
The league’s under-15 Division One side defeated Yarra Junior Football League by eight points in the AFL Victoria Metropolitan Junior Championships at Box Hill City Oval.
The victory gave the locals two for the day after the South Eastern Youth Girls squad also achieved ultimate glory when it thrashed Western Youth Girls by 11 goals.
Nathan Wright and Jordan Shiels kicked the final two goals of the match for the DDJFL after Yarra snatched the lead with four majors in quick succession.
Coach Jason Quirk was a relieved man after believing his players were over the line halfway through the final term.
“We probably outplayed them, but we missed quite a few shots and had a lot more scoring shots than them,” he said.
“They lifted for those last couple of goals and it would have been disappointing to lose because we controlled the game.”
Quirk praised his side’s tackling and pressure – two areas he identified before the contest as weaknesses of his players – as the major reason it succeeded against a bigger opponent.
The win also cast aside the memories of the DDJFL’s one-goal loss to Yarra in the under-14 decider last year.
It was only the second time the DDJFL has won an AFL Victoria Metropolitan Junior Championships title.
The inaugural winning team included a couple of handy types by the name of Tom Scully and Ryan Bastinac.
The umpires awarded hard-at-it Cranbourne midfielder Brad Hermans the best-on-ground medal.
Quirk also lauded Berwick footballer Wright for his ‘dominant’ display on the ball.
“Blind Freddie could teach these kids in terms of footy, but what we focused on was getting the kids to play as a team and become mates and we did a lot of stuff outside training,” he said.
Meanwhile, the South Eastern Youth Girls’ triumph was a natural progression after thumping its three opponents in the preliminary rounds.
South Eastern held Western scoreless on the way to a 123-point success in the round-robin stage and, even though it was not quite as impressive as that, there was never any doubt this time around either.
Star midfielders Alicia Eva and Ellie Blackburn, the best-on-ground medallist, led the way again to maintain coach David Kerr’s perfect start to his Youth Girls interleague career.
“I told them to go out as if they beat us by 20 goals (last time),” Kerr said.
“We fumbled the ball quite a lot in the first half and their minds were not on it, but a win’s a win.”
The players presented Kerr with a signed South Eastern jumper at the end of the game.
He is keen to coach the side again next year and hopes more females start playing the sport.
“Any girls thinking of playing footy, come and give it a go,” Kerr said.
“Just contact your local club and they’ll point you in the right direction.”
