Bloods hold off fast finishing Burra in classic

Melton 5.9 (39) defeated Sebastopol 4.10 (34)

IN one of the most heart stopping McDonalds’s Ballarat Football League grand finals in recent memory, Melton secured the premiership, holding on by five points in wet conditions last Saturday at Mars Stadium.

In a low scoring affair full of drama, the Bloods won their first senior premiership since 2005 and fourth in club history since joining the league in 1997.

In soaking wet conditions, it was Melton who jumped Sebastopol in the opening 90 seconds with a clever soccer goal from speedster Kyle Borg backed after with some crafty work from their captain Braedan Kight inside forward 50.

Despite breaking his toe the week prior, livewire Sebas James Keeble showed his prowess at ground level with a soccer goal of his own to get some momentum rolling.

His tenacity and ferocious tackling was on full display in the opening quarter but a late Luke Heeney goal stifled any momentum that the Burra and Keeble were generating as the Bloods lead by 13-points at the first break.

The second quarter became a hard slog as the inside work from Melton’s Jack Walker became deceive with his brothers Riley and Lachlan controlling the flow of the game from the backline.

Melton extended their lead to 19-points at the main break and with the Burra staring down a loss they were forced to flip the magnets and injected Keeble into the midfield to get some pace.

The move was a masterstroke with Toby Hutt goaling after a courageous mark before Keeble booted his second and third in as many minutes to draw scores level.

His second was arguably one of the greatest goals in grand final history, off his non-preferred foot, out of mid-air, from the impossible angle. Doesn’t get any better than that!

However as fast as the Burra came, Melton were able to respond with Jaycob Hickey somehow finding himself on his lonesome 15 metres out to kick what would end up being the final goal of the game.

In the last the Burra threw everything at Melton with the likes of Blake Souter and Brendan Payne saving the game on the last line of defence on multiple occasions.

Keeble had one more moment with a big pack mark 30 minutes in the last 40 meters out from goal, only to turn over the footy from the kick and seal the Burra’s fate as runners-up for the second consecutive season.

Blake Souter was awarded the Roy Edwards Memorial Trophy as the best player on the ground, while Jack Walker received the AFL Victoria Country Medal as adjudged the best player by the umpires, backing up Walkers second running runners-up placing in the Henderson medal.