CAFL 2018 Grand Final
After a cold Antarctic blast blew up the South Island and dropped fresh snow on the Alps and a ton of rain on Christchurch on the Friday we were all prepared for our first wet day of the season. No-one expected to wake up to crystal blue skies without a drop of wind. Would have been a blue bird day on the slopes if the ski-fields were still open.
The reigning Premiers the Christchurch Bulldogs were a bit depleted with injuries, a wedding and would you believe a golf trip, so the dream of a Three-Peat was going to be a tough ask today. So much so coach Zac Williams had to come out retirement and risk yet another broken leg, twisted ankle, busted shoulder or decapitation to make up numbers. Meanwhile the University Cougars were preparing to vanquish their demons after not holding a Premiership cup for 13 years. President Joe “Trash” Mildenhall, Jamie “Champ” Day and Alex “Dev” Devereaux were there to remind the fresh faces what it meant to live through a drought.
After the teams squared off for a minute’s silence to mark the Armistice Day centenary and Canterbury’s favourite Soprano Hayley Westernra to sing the national anthem, young Bulldog Max Frew won the coin toss and elected to kick to the Riccarton end with a slight breeze at their back. The ball didn’t come out of the centre square for the first 5 minutes as everyone was eager to get their hands on the pill. This looked like a European rugby game until Wazza got foot to ball and smashed it wide to the wing. From there the ball swapped each end with the ardent back-men of Doggies Burdett and Cougars Brooks trading kick to kick and marking everything across half back. The only real break through was a big fat arse attempt by Veteran Dev who side stepped a couple on the boundary line and then sent the ball into the square with a mongrel punt where it promptly jack knifed right for the Cougars first major.
Quarter time Cougars 1 0 6 Bulldogs 1 3 9
Clean ball delivery down the throat of Champ was the big difference in this quarter. And not even the usual dominate attention of Burdett could disrupt this veterans flow as his strong leads out in front took some great marks and even if they did spill his recollection and run away from the opposition gave him too much space and time so when he turned he either goaled truly or speared a ball to one of his teammates like Young Tommy or Veteran Dev. The Bulldogs were hanging on but a Cougars late goal from an umpire overturned decision frustrated them. Jake at five and a half foot landed a good tackle on Swifty at five and a half foot across the high chest and was deemed dropping the ball by the controlling umpire. But as they spun around Jake’s arm came up and another umpire deemed it high. This resulted in a goal for the Cougars to get some breathing space going into the main break.
Half Time Cougars 4 4 28 Bulldogs 2 4 16
The Premiership quarter should be renamed the Brad Mavor quarter as the ex-Bulldog now Cougar took the game by the scruff and showed why he has won the CAFL Players Player, Coaches Player and the Nicky Dow Award this year. Laying dominant tackles, intercepting sloppy kicks with magnificent marks and even going for a run up the guts taking three bounces whilst we all stood and watched. Zac and Steph got some good ball through the middle and found the hobbling Stoat in the forward line or Stevie. But the Cougars just swarmed with Emerson, Cargill and de-Joux equal to the task taking clean marks and delivering clean kicks.
Three Quarter time Cougars 7 5 47 to Bulldogs 4 5 29
The physical nature of the game was taking its toll on the Bulldogs as their bench was depleted because of yet another injury forced a player off and the Cougars weren’t making life any easier with some big bumps. Especially Brennan’s late frontal bump on Steph after he kicked the ball set him on his back and the other Bulldogs started to show their teeth. The frustrated Dogs started lashing out but the Cougars kept the scoreboard ticking over with another 5 straight goals. Most of these from the inspirational Jamie Day but also never-say-die Jacob Edy was impressive with lots to contribute till the end. The Cougars momentum to finish the season on a high was testament to the long term building of the coach Chris Mintern who calmly repeated his message to play positive footy and the results will come. Well it certainly has in 2018 because the 13 year Premiership drought has finally broken for the University Cougars and it rained champagne long into the night.
Fulltime Cougars 12 5 77 defeated the Bulldogs 5 6 36
Author: Steve Langridge
Last Modified on 15/11/2018 11:16