Glory for Grubbers
OCEAN Grove young gun Tom Richardson powered the Grubbers to under-19 premiership glory in Saturday’s Division 2 21-point triumph over Barwon Heads.
The strongly-built key forward played five senior games this year — and the 17year-old showed why he was given that chance, booting four goals to claim best-on-ground honours in the 14.5 (89) to 11.2 (68) win.
“It’s almost illegal for him to play at under-19 level next year — he’s that big, he’s that much of a talent,” Ocean Grove coach Matt Tyrrell said of Richardson.
“He marches to the beat of his own drum, but it’s a good drum.
“The kid has got that much potential. He’s that stock-standard lead-up forward, but when he’s on the ground, he’s able to be damaging as well.
“I think the seniors are going to grab hold of him.”
The Grubbers led from the first siren, with Kobe Annand and Jake Hargreaves (three goals) also impressing.
Barwon Heads forward Noah Young played a lone hand kicking five goals, and Louis Polwarth and Charlie Hurst were also good, but the Seagulls had too much ground to make up in the final quarter.
“They were really, really physical with us, almost to the point of being over the line,” Tyrrell said. “But that’s the way it goes with grand finals. I thought maybe our side would falter a little bit and take a step back, but we just kept pushing forward. It makes it all the more special.”
Tyrrell added there were “six to seven ready-made” players in his team that would go on to play seniors in 2020 under new senior coach Pete Davey.
T. Richardson 4, J. Hargreaves 3, J. Nagle 2, M. Clark 2, L. Gibb, T. Bryan, J. Lange.
N. Young 5, L. Polwarth 3, D. Booth, F. Pianta-Cook, M. Witherden.
T. Richardson, K. Annand, J. Hargreaves, C. Pickett, T. Bryan, J. Nagle
C. Hurst, L. Polwarth, N. Young, D. Booth, M. Witherden, P. Richards.