Luke Bull and his Hampton Park teammates will drift off to sleep on Friday night with dreams of holding the Southern Division 2 premiership cup aloft the following afternoon.
But the Redbacks will hope they don’t see any visions of Chelsea Heights’ forward duo Erishmiilan Uthayakumar and Jesse Murphy kicking goals…which could easily take the form of a nightmare.
Hampton Park is hoping to replicate its incredible effort from six years ago, when both the reserves and seniors were crowned as Division 3 premiers – both teams are once again vying for the ultimate success.
However, another formidable opponent stands in the Redbacks’ way, the only opponent in the league that they are yet to beat this season … Chelsea Heights, who advanced after beating Highett by 34 points in the preliminary final on the weekend.
The Redbacks were minor premiers this year and dropped just four games for the entire season, but two of them came against the Demons, by 36 points and 33 points.
Redbacks’ coach Bull said he and his team were keen to take the field in the hope of getting one back on the Demons.
“It’s going to be a good game, the crowd will get behind us and that is all we play footy for, days like this, so we aren’t taking the opportunity lightly,” he said.
“We trained Saturday and had a decent session again like we did the other week when we had it off, so that was good.
“Then we went down to the Chelsea Heights v Highett game, it was nice to watch them playing and have a good look at our opposition.”
Bull added that there was a great vibe around the whole club, with many teams experiencing great success in 2025 thus far.
“Our twos only lost one game for the year and are in the grand final as well, so we are pretty proud of them,” he said.
“I always say that your twos are the backbone of your success as a club overall and it’s awesome to see both teams really thriving at the moment.
“The whole club is thriving, the netballers won six out of seven grand finals on the weekend, so hopefully we can join them in winning two footy premierships.”
REDBACKS REDEMPTION?
Despite having not beaten Chelsea Heights this season, Bull and his side wanted a shot at knocking off the Demons and are confident that their best footy stacks up.
“We wanted to play them as they have beaten us the last two times … we are looking forward to getting another crack at them,” he said.
“Both games have probably been our two worst games for the year, but credit to them, they played well and got off to a good start both times.
“We have a fair few blokes in our side with good finals experience, half of the side has played in a fair few grand finals, so I don’t think there will be any nerves there.”
Given their easy path to the grand final, Hampton Park probably goes into the game as the slight favourite, with second-placed Chelsea Heights taking the long way to the big dance.
The Demons lost to Highett by six points in the first week of finals, before bouncing back to beat Mordialloc by 43 points, and turning the tables against Highett to win by 34 points last week.
Whereas, the Redbacks have only had to play the one final, also against Highett which resulted in a 24-point victory.
SLOW STARTS
The start will be crucial for Hampton Park’s winning chances, having been jumped in both previous outings against the Demons.
Chelsea Heights has outscored the Redbacks 65-10 in first quarters and have a combined winning margin of 69 points, so the slow starts have ultimately been the difference.
“If we can eliminate those poor starts and get off to a really good one, then they are going to be in trouble I think,” he said.
“We are a strong finishing side and we don’t lose many second halves, I think it will be a battle won in the midfield to be honest.”
The Redbacks are known for their offensive firepower, ranked first in the league, but they are ranked fourth defensively.
“We will be really defensively-minded going into this game, if we take care of the defensive side of the game, the attractive side of football really takes care of itself,” Bull said.
RUCK AND ROLL
Mason Hawkins will come back into the side for the grand final to join ruck partner Jye King, who is coming off a mammoth outing where he had 27 disposals, 45 hitouts, 13 clearances and 211 ranking points.
“We have pretty much a full list to pick from, so it will make my job difficult at selection,” Bull said.
“Mason is cherry ripe, so we will have arguably the best two ruckmen in the comp in our team so they are a pretty formidable duo.
“Kingy is in insane form, he keeps levelling up and is really enjoying his footy at the moment.”
Hampton Park’s stars stood up in the qualifying final against Highett, but can the likes of Dylan Morris, Makaio Haywood and Trent Thomas all deliver once more on the biggest stage?
PLAYERS TO WATCH
#4 Trent Thomas (Hampton Park) – Hasn’t gone goalless for the entire year, a dynamic player who hits the scoreboard. He is coming off arguably his best game of the season, where he kicked four goals and single-handedly sunk Highett’s premiership aspirations. A big-game player.
#36 Jye King (Hampton Park) – While Mason Hawkins started the year as the main ruck, injury saw King take over the ruck duties and he has gotten better every week. He puts up ridiculous numbers and also helps the Redbacks out in defence. The big man has been in the best in 10 of his past 11 matches.
#2 Liam Frazer (Chelsea Heights) – A new recruit to the club this year who has significantly strengthened the team’s midfield stocks and made a big impact on the scoreboard, with 24 goals to his name – he has also been named in the best 12 times. He kicked a season-high four goals against the Redbacks last time they met.
SOUTHERN DIVISION 2
Results – Preliminary Final: Chelsea Heights 9.15 (69) def Highett 5.5 (35).
Fixture – Grand Final: Saturday 13 September. Hampton Park v Chelsea Heights at Springvale Reserve, 2.15pm.
