Gniel a key in Dingo finals clash

By Paul Pickering
BRETT Gniel is one of the few Dingley players old enough to remember the first and only premiership in his club’s 50-year history.
Gniel played in that 1994 grand final as a 21-year-old.
Now 35, the playing-assistant coach will lead a new breed of Dingoes into battle against Heatherton in Saturday’s Division Two grand final at Springvale Reserve.
A win would hand Gniel his own place in the club’s history, but it’s the chance to atone for last year’s agonising grand final loss to Springvale Districts that drives him.
“To be the first and only dual premiership player for the club has definitely been a personal motivation,” Gniel said last week.
“But after getting done last year, the main motivation has been just getting there (the grand final) and having another chance.”
Gniel says last year’s grand final defeat – after leading by 11 points at three-quarter-time – has created an unspoken bond between the players this season.
“For the blokes who played the majority of last year, it doesn’t have to be said – it’s just known,” he explained.
“When we have touched on it, it’s been a matter of saying: ‘We’re not going to let it slip this time’.”
Ironically, the flag that eluded the Dingoes last September will be hanging in the rooms at Newcomen Road on Saturday – as if they needed an extra incentive.
Gniel has endured some of the club’s lowest ebbs, but his one premiership medal means he has bragging rights over most at Souter Oval – including his old man.
Doug Gniel played in back-to-back grand final losses in the late 1970s, before going on to serve as president of the club.
At the other end of the spectrum are Gniel’s teenage team-mates Luke Bartholomew, Tim Ford and Robbie Mullins, who have made an immediate impact this season after being elevated from the under-17s.
Gniel attributes the club’s resurgence to the likes of current president Troy Patterson and playing-coach Adam Quinn, but he knows there is one last hurdle to jump.
“Naturally you think about what a premiership would mean to the club, but the job’s not done yet,” he said.
SFL Division Two Grand Final: Saturday, 20 September, 2.30pm at Springvale Reserve, Newcomen Road, Springvale.