Hawks hope to end 31-year premiership drought

A SIDE back in the finals fold and a side still searching for its first premiership in more than thirty years will duel it out at St Albans Reserve this Saturday on the final day of the 2023 Geelong and District Football League season.

Thomson and Inverleigh will meet again in a GDFL Grand Final five years since the last time the two teams met in the decider.

The Tigers won that game 73-43 in 2018 to claim its 10th GDFL flag and extended Inverleigh’s flagless streak.

However, Thomson failed to make the top five in 2022 coming out of the pandemic, but with a couple key acquisitions and garnering a collective surge of momentum out of Godfrey Street, the Tigers are back in the hunt looking for premiership number 11.

Inverleigh defender Jack Fiolet is no stranger to being a Grand Final captain, having led the side out onto St Albans Reserve in last year’s loss to Bannockburn.

Fiolet touched on the urgency factor for the Hawks going into this year’s decider.

“The group knows that we need to bring the pressure, just being ready to play, that’s the main focus for us heading into Saturday,” he said.

The Hawks made a big change in personnel in the middle portion of the season following the promotion of former assistant coach Chris Moore to head coach, allowing now former playing coach Adam Donohue to direct his focus to his on-field duties.

The Hawks’ back half of the season has been superb, winning all nine of its last games and then two finals.

“All the pieces of the puzzle have started to come together, really, we got hit pretty hard with injuries in the early stages of the season,” Fiolet said.

“As blokes started to come back, and with the coaching change, we just went back to basic footy, I suppose, and started enjoying it again.

“The town is getting excited as well, we’ll have a bus coming down, and the group is up and about too, with a full bill of health we’re just ready to get stuck into it.”

Inverleigh will be well-represented in Reserves Grand Final as well, as the Hawks take on East Geelong in that game at 11.45am.

Tigers co-captain Sam Jacka, who was part of the Tigers’ 2018 premiership side, said the competition had been event throughout 2023.

“Obviously, it has been a bit of a bounce back season for us and we targeted a few recruits ahead of this season, Darcy Troop, who’s just a really likeable guy, and Brent Jacques, who is also the same, both good footballers but really likeable guys,” Jacka said.

“It’s probably the closest team I’ve had the luxury of being a part of, a lot of older heads would say the same thing.

“Inverleigh is such a well-rounded team, who have been at the top of the competition for a while now under Adam Donohue.

“It’s a side that knows how to play in big games like this, but that premiership has just eluded them over the last few years, it’s just a really well-rounded side which poses several challenges for us.”

The GDFL Grand Final begins at 2.15pm.