By EWEN McRAE
BALWYN shot out to an early lead and held off a second-half charge from Vermont to claim the EFL division 1 premiership on Saturday.
On a perfect day at Bayswater Oval, the Tigers overcame some sloppy kicking for goal to prevail 12.19 (91) to 10.5 (65).
Former Noble Park favourite Dan Donati led the Tigers to the flag in his first season as coach with the club.
Donati was elated with the win and proud of the month of finals football his team had put together. “I’m over the moon,” Donati said. “I was pretty confident coming in, I didn’t say it often but I was confident the boys were going to come out today. I knew they were ready and I’m just really pleased for them.”
Balwyn dedicated the win to late teammate Shaun Bergin, who died following an on-field accident in last year’s finals series. “The family was here today, we all wore black armbands, I’m just ecstatic we were able to get the win for him and show him some real respect,” Donati said.
In a frenetic opening term, Vermont’s gun forward Jarrod Dalton was crunched in a marking contest just five minutes into the game and had to be stretchered off the ground. He was unable to return for the day.
Balwyn took a 33-point lead into the last quarter. Two Eagles goals early in the last quarter gave the purple army some hope of a comeback win, but when another Vermont player had to be stretchered off after 10 minutes it became a bridge too far.
Jeff Gobbels won the Blue Ribbon Medal for best on ground.
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