Shane Rexhepi streams up the wing for Dandenong Thunder in their 2-1 grand final victory over Oakleigh. 88640 Pictures: JARROD POTTER
By JARROD POTTER
Subs note – pic 42 big and prominent, then 88 then 39.
DANDENONG Thunder’s 2012 campaign will go down in history as one of the best ever within the Victorian Premier League after it claimed a 2-1 victory in the VPL grand final to claim the rare treble.
With the league victory, minor premiership and their earlier successful campaign in the State Knockout Cup, Dandenong has created one of the best teams in VPL history.
After a back and forth first half, particularly only highlighted by a narrowly wide header from Nate Foster in the first minute, the second half stood out for the way both sides started attacking.
With yellow cards being handed out like drinks tickets at a pub, Craig Elvin was on the receiving end of a yellow-double from the officials within two minutes. His first was at the 57th minute through a late tackle followed soon after with the second to send him off at 59.
Down to 10 men, Dandenong kept pestering the Oakleigh defence like it was at full strength. The breakthrough finally came as it has a lot of times before this season – via the boot of Luke Sherbon.
Sherbon took a penalty in the 69th minute after Iqbal Jawadi was brought down in the box and the golden boot of the Welshman pushed the Dandenong boys out to a 1-0 lead.
The levelling penalty was awarded to Oakleigh captain Ricky Diaco after second-half substitute Dane Milovanovic’s dangerous run was cut off haphazardly by Thunder’s Sean McIlroy.
Soon after the game took another turn, with Luke Walker receiving his second yellow and earning ejection from the match.
It came down to which team had enough petrol tickets left to capture the cup and it turned out to be Dandenong – Sherbon went on a beguiling run, put the through-ball to Foster who cannoned the ball in to the nets and the celebrations would begin 20 minutes later as Oakleigh ran out of chances to level again.
Foster was awarded the Jimmy Rooney Medal as the best player in the grand final.
“It was a great effort, great effort all-round,” Dandenong coach Chris Taylor said. “I think throughout the season we felt we could do it, but when it gets a bit closer and the nerves kick in, we’ve had a few injuries, suspensions, more send-offs today (Sunday) and we were up against it, but it shows what character the boys have got and what kind of group this is.”
The race against time for Elvin to recover from his concussion last week came to an end early, but his input was valuable to the Thunder throughout the first half.
“Craig is Craig,” Taylor said. “If you chopped one of his legs off he’d hop around for you – I had him at Melbourne Knights, we lost then but it was good to make amends for it even with the send-off.”
With first-choice team-mates Andrew Mullett and Matthew Theodore unable to take part in the game, Taylor said the team was playing, at least in part, for them.
“It’s a very, very tight group – Andrew Mullett and Matthew Theodore were a big part of what we did before the game and I hope the boys went out and did a lot for them as well,” Taylor said.
“It’s the best group of boys I’ve ever had to work with – the harmony within a dressing room is what as a coach you try to fix up straight away – that’s been really good for us, we’ve had a few testing moments but the boys stick together the rewards are there with the treble.
“I could say we’ve been the best side in the VPL for 10 years at least.”
The challenge for Dandenong is to maintain the squad with other clubs likely to try and poach a Thunder superstar for themselves, but Taylor said if the club can retain most of their players, then there are few teams that have ever played in the Victorian Premier League that can match up to them.
“Try to wake up tomorrow I think – I think the challenge is consistency – there’s a very good side there, but as with this league, some of the top players in this club will get approached by other clubs now,” Taylor said.
“It’s up to the club now to put their structures in place as if the club can keep this team together, it’s a team and the best part about it is that it’s not just a team that wins, but it’s a team that wins in style and that’s what I’d like to see as it’s good for the league.”
