Narre competed in finals in all four grades of the competition last weekend – in qualifying finals in the Seniors, Reserves and Under 18s; and also a preliminary final in the Colts competition. We came away with three wins out of four – but unfortunately the loss was in the Ones against Beaconsfield.

Beacy dominated the stoppages giving their on-ballers good use of the footy and putting Narre’s defence under pressure all day. In a disappointing seven-goal loss, the Field brothers were among Narre’s best with Mickey Collins, ‘Azza’ McIver, Ando and Bluey McGill. We’ll be bringing our A-game to the semi this week to keep our premiership aspirations alive.

Narre’s Twos faced Pakenham and we played the fast-moving, confident brand of footy that we’ve become noted for. Our young side soaked up the finals pressure applied by our more experienced opponents early, and then played the game on our terms for a convincing five-goal win. Jake Gray kicked 3, and Uza and Dean Scanlon kicked 2 each. Our best were Tim Werner, Cam Dalton, Clinton James, Nick Cowan, Dean Scanlon and Justin Marriott.

Our Under 18s game against Cranbourne was a thriller. Goals were at a premium with the intense pressure applied to the ball-carrier by both sides. The last ten minutes was a slog to the line by two exhausted groups of players and it was guts and determination as much as football skill that won the day for Narre by a single goal. Kong “Sunshine” Tut was the most effective forward on the ground with 4 goals, while our best were ‘Rowdy Roberts, Bobby Harvey, Benny King, ‘Stonewash’ Douglas, Jake Calvert and ‘Squishy’ Marriott.

And Narre’s dynamic young Colts shook off their recent form slump to claim their place in this week’s grand final, with a ripper six-goal win in the Prelim over Cranbourne. All 22 Narre players had a hand in this gutsy win as we ran in numbers and shared the ball all night. Cody Shortis was our best with Aiden Nelson, Tory Drew, Brendan Faoro, Chris Edwards and Sam McLean. Good luck to Shorty and his boys in their shot at ‘back-to-back’ flags this week in the ‘Granny against Langy’.

Well done to former Narre premiership player Jack McTaggart who coached Narre Juniors Under 16s to the flag in the DDJFL last weekend. We look forward to seeing many of these young stars of the future in Magpie jumpers at the senior club in 2011.     

Social notes - Narre’s Football and Netball Vote Count is at Fox Road on Friday 1 October – meals served from 6.30 pm. And our Senior Football and Netball Presentation Night is on Friday 8 October at Cranbourne Golf Club at 7 pm. Tickets on sale from Thursday 26 August.