Hampton Park achieved its ultimate goal on Saturday – destroyed Chelsea Heights in a clinical fourth term – booting nine goals to two to win the Southern Division 2 premiership by 53 points.
Coach Luke Bull held the cup aloft in his first year at the helm, as the Redbacks crawled up into Southern Division 1 with an emphatic victory, winning 16.13(109) to 8.8(56).
Springvale Reserve was where history was made and everyone fortunate enough to witness the nine-goal onslaught in the fourth quarter will remember it for many years to come.
The final margin blew out to 53 points, one point less than the team’s winning margin in its most recent premiership in 2019.
Bull said it was special to see the hard work pay off for the group after a strong 14-4 season where the side finished first on the ladder.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet, it has kind of been a bit of a blur and the celebrations have all gone quickly,” he said.
“They are very hard to win, but we deserved it.
“We put in the hard work and came a long way throughout the year, so it was a really special day.”
Up until three quarter time, the game had delivered on its promise to be an exciting and contested match-up with neither side able to gain ascendancy on the scoreboard.
But that didn’t rattle the Redbacks when they doubled their score and outscored their opponents 59-14 in the fourth term as the fans erupted behind the goals.
“Only playing two games in four weeks was huge for us and that is why you want to finish top, because you could tell we ran all over them in the last,” Bull said.
“We also kept their midfield very quiet which was one of the main things we wanted to focus on.”
Prior to the 2019 premiership, it had been more than two decades since Hampton Park celebrated a premiership, with some dark times through that period.
It wasn’t uncommon to see the Redbacks thumped by 100 or 200 points, but many people at the club stuck fat and saw it through.
Bull said it was special to see the success and growth within the entire club, and felt the premiership was a fitting way to thank the many supporters and volunteers.
“There are some people and committee members who have been at the club for decades and decades, there are so many great people,” he said.
“Our trainer Paul Couch has been there for 47 years, so to see him celebrating and saying the club had never been in a better spot was special to hear.”
Coming into the clash, the Redbacks had bitten every side in the competition but had failed to spin a web around the Demons, who got the better of them both times they met – convincingly too, by 36 and 33 points.
While Hampton Park went on to win the minor premiership and held top spot on the ladder for most of the season, a question mark remained next to Chelsea Heights, who they were yet to beat.
STARTING STRONG
Hampton Park wouldn’t win this grand final in the opening 15 minutes, but there was a chance the side could lose it if history repeated itself.
Bull and his team had identified their slow starts, after being jumped in their earlier season matches against Chelsea Heights, and outscored 65-10 in first quarters in those two outings.
This was a statistic that had to change if the Redbacks’ premiership dreams were to come true … and it did.
While the quarter-time scoreboard of 14-14 may have looked like the game was even – and figuratively speaking, it was – Hampton Park took some confidence out of its first term.
Starting well and nullifying the Demons’ mids was the first big tick and kicking the first two goals of the game was another step towards the premiership cup.
Just 80 seconds into the match, Makaio Haywood kicked the first goal with a brilliant checkside out of a forward stoppage.
Mason Hawkins added another goal three minutes later to put the Redbacks up 12-0.
“I was telling the boys all week that if we could stick with them for a half, then they will fade out and that is what we did,” Bull said.
“I knew we were a better side than them, but we had started off very badly both times against them.
“We were a pretty poor starting side throughout the year to be honest, we were lucky we pegged it back against some quality sides, but they are too good to let get off to a good start.”
There was a halt in momentum in the second quarter when Demons’ Luke Smith was knocked out, and an ambulance was called as the quarter went for 50 minutes.
DEMONS EXORCISED
It took three quarters for the dam wall to break, but when it did, the Redbacks no longer feared Chelsea Heights as the midfielders ran rampant.
While the boys in red and black led by just eight points at the final break, they came out in the fourth term and left nothing in the tank.
Bang, Bang, Bang.
The usual stars delivered with Liam Scott kicking an easy snap goal to open proceedings before X-Factor forward Trent Thomas kicked two in a minute.
Jackson Dalton starred in the final term, setting up goals here there and everywhere, as well as launching a long-range bomb for goal himself – flying around the ground as an airplane in celebration.
Chelsea Heights was struggling to get the ball past the halfway mark, and when they did, they saw Bull’s orange boots stream away from them as he sent it back into the forward half.
Captain Liam Myatt kicked a goal and celebrated with the crowd, and by this point, it was party time.
HAWK WALKS THE WALK
Young ruckman Mason Hawkins, who had faced numerous injuries this year, fractured his hand in the final round of the year and things were looking bleak.
He missed the first final against Highett and there was a huge injury cloud hovering over him as the team progressed straight into the grand final.
But he made a return in the grand final looking like prime Travis Cloke with a black glove.
Not even a spiral fracture in his hand was going to stop him from marking any ball that came his way, with hands like a vice.
Jye King, who was named best on ground, and Myles Wareham took the ruck duties which meant the big Hawk could make himself at home inside 50.
And it worked like a charm, as he booted a game-high five goals in a dominant forward performance including one after the siren.
