At Garvey Oval on Saturday, with a touch of spring in the air, Brunswick’s reserves won their way straight through to the grand final with a well-deserved 10-point win over local rivals West Brunswick in the second semi. After leading at every change, and surviving a comeback from the Westies in the third term, the NOBs were much the better side on the day and could have won by fair bit more but for set-shot misses.

Brunswick dominated play for most of the first quarter and a return of only two goals (through Anthony Alexandris and Paul Scamporlino) didn’t do them justice, particularly after the Westies snuck one home against-the-run-of-play after the siren.

The second term was almost a carbon copy, as the NOBs were well on top, with Chris Gavaghan landing a long bomb and Jack Spencer slotting a banana from the pocket, before WB kicked one and then they got another with a giant slice of luck as, with a second to go on the clock, there was a hurried kick forward which took a huge off-break and bounced through an unattended goal square well into the halftime break.

After the main break WB raised their game and started to get on top, kicking the next two goals to take the lead. This sparked the NOBs into action as they created a number of opportunities but couldn’t nail them. Then came the NOBs’ own slice of luck as Adam Bevanda kicked a volley from a throw-in that travelled 30 metres to the behind-line where Gav took a great mark, before going back and snagging his own banana, to re-take the lead going into the final change.

The last quarter was a played under true finals pressure as the NOBs sought to defend their advantage, then that man Gav did the trick again, winning a footrace for a loose ball against three defenders and coolly snapping the sealer.

There were a number of excellent contributors to the victory, led by Hayden James and Lewis McKenzie, both of whom knocked up winning the ball. Scamporlino was a livewire in attack and could have kicked a bag, while Matthew Dickson was hard-at-it all day. Darcy Heenan was solid in defence and Gavaghan’s three goals were probably the difference in the end.

Make sure you get yourselves down to support the Ressies in the big one (day, venue and opponent TBC)!