AFTER several near-misses over the years, this was a result Laurimar’s reserves have been salivating.
The Power’s seven-point victory over Fitzroy Stars brought home a second senior-level premiership for the club, neatly joining the club’s 2023 senior team.
This didn’t come without an almighty fight from the Stars, however – Laurimar had to earn every goal throughout the afternoon, and it was a 15-minute burst throughout the third quarter which helped do much of the damage.
Joshua Walker helped Laurimar on its way to a good start, kicking the first goal of the afternoon with a strong breeze, but to its credit, Fitzroy Stars held firm for the remainder of the quarter, and asked questions itself, but to no avail. Laurimar led 8-4 at the opening change.
The second quarter was a similar story, but the roles reversed.
It was Laurimar who was pushing, and it kicked an all-important first goal against the breeze through Kai McCormack.
While Fitzroy then got on the board for its first major of the day, the Power was doing enough to hold on to an 18-13 lead at the main break.
Laurimar soon showed why it was the dominant team of the season, bursting into life and leaving the Stars shellshocked.
Goals from Jake Valvo, Ethan Jones, the ever-present Jacob Bateman, Billy Lambert and Nicholas Storer suddenly had the lead blow out to 38 points, and the Power looked good for the premiership.
There were some nerves for the faithful when Fitzroy Stars kicked two of the last three goals of the term, and with the gale blowing their way in the final term, a 57-27 lead didn’t feel close to comfortable.
This was confirmed in the opening stages of the final quarter, where the Stars were kicking incredible goals, including a mid-air kick which floated through, to suddenly roar back into the game.
Jones would step up, however, to deliver the dagger that the Power faithful wanted, kicking a crucial goal against the breeze to seal the premiership.
Laurimar would win 9.9 (63) to 7.14 (56).
Bateman was best on ground after a terrific effort through the midfield, while Joshua Campbell, Lambert, Jones, Walker and Rylan Herrick were also named in the best.
Co-coach Joel Pritchard praised Laurimar’s will to fight, especially in the last quarter.
“It’s a game of moments, but we’re such a well-drilled side. We aren’t a classic reserves team where we think talent beats every team, we play like a senior team. If we go in with our system, we believe we can beat anybody,” he said.
Pritchard said there needed to be a reward for a group who have shown their ability to play football at a higher level.
“The goal at the start of the year was to win a flag, obviously, when we were appointed, it was the first thing we spoke about. But we aren’t just a young side, we are a talented side. 22 of the 24 today have played senior football and needed to show a little bit of reward for it,” he said.
Fellow co-coach, Brett McDonald, said after a long period of waiting, he was speechless.
“I was zero from four before this, but now I’m one from five. I still can’t believe it, I’m speechless,” he said.
McDonald was humble in his success, thinking of those who had spent so long at the club without tasting success, such as the likes of Sam Halpin and Jayden Wendt, while also balancing the hunger of younger players who were pushing for spots, in trying to create a premiership narrative for all at the club.
“We are there to put pressure on the senior team and push players up into senior footy. But when there’s injury and sickness, the extra six or seven come in. I would have loved to have played 30 for this premiership, but unfortunately, a couple have to miss out. The job from there was to get them involved as possible, getting them in the song or the photo. It will be bittersweet, but it’s the least we could do,” he said.
McDonald was able to formulate a plan after watching the Stars the previous week, and said it was executed perfectly.
“We watched the Stars last week and saw how they moved the ball, and learned they loved to play their side and get the fans involved. We made sure we wanted to shut that down as much as possible, but we backed our structure and our system in. The backline was amazing, we talked so well, and even in the last quarter when things weren’t going our way, we just had to stay composed and hold on for a bit longer,” he said.
