Sport
26 August, 2024
Decade long drought over as Wedderburn win first final since 2014 flag
Wedderburn snuck home in the first semi-final versus Donald
Wedderburn has secured its first finals win in a decade after a hard-fought battle with Donald in Saturday's NCFL first semi-final.
The Redbacks 7.13 (55) to 6.7 (43) triumph at Birchip was their first in finals since their 2014 premiership.
In a similar contest to the one these two sides shared seven days earlier, the Redbacks had the better of the general play but were made to fight for their victory.
The Blues were seven points in arrears at three-quarter-time, but they gained the ascendency through the early passages of the final term and brought the margin back to a solitary point.
The Redbacks responded by opening up their forward half, and with ten minutes to go, Oscar Holt found space and ran into goal to extend the margin to seven points.
Soon after, a stoppage goal gave Tom Metherell's side the game-winning buffer.
Metherell was proud that his boys got the job done in the heat of battle.
"A lot of the boys have done the hard yards over the years but haven't had the reward of playing finals footy, so it was good to see them stand up when it counted," Metherell said.
"It was fairly tight all day, and the biggest margin would have been around two goals.
"We'd generally get out to a two-goal lead, then they'd peg us back, so it was back and forth all afternoon.
"Donald had the momentum early in the last quarter, but we dug deep and got it back on our terms.
"It felt like we had the better of the general play, and I think across the past fortnight against them, we've controlled the majority of both games.
"Just some silly turnovers and mistakes can cost us, which can happen with our run-and-gun style, but our defence has been unreal this season."
The Redbacks haven't conceded over 100 points in 2024.
Star midfielder Jackson McEwen was excellent for the Redbacks, while ruckman Jordan Hargreaves did a superb job neutralising the impact of Blues big man Andrew Browne.
"Jackson (McEwen) is so strong over the footy, and his core for a little guy is amazing," Metherell said.
"He's not massively built, but the way he handles tackles and keeps his feet is incredible.
"Jordan Hargreaves was probably our best player on Saturday.
"Andrew Browne is an outstanding footballer, so we came in with a plan to nullify him, and Jordy was phenomenal in doing that."
The Redbacks have the week off before meeting the loser of Sea Lake-Nandaly and Birchip-Watchem's second semi-final in the prelim at Charlton on September 7.