By Tara Murray
A last-quarter comeback by Hillside fell just short, bringing to an end the Sharks season in Essendon District Football League division 1.
A poor third quarter against Craigieburn put the Sharks behind, but with the wind in their favour in the last quarter all hope was not lost.
The Sharks reduced the 34-point margin back to two points, but couldn’t find that much-needed goal to put them in front.
Craigieburn held on to win 13.12 (90)-12.16 (88).
Sharks football manager Darren Mantynen said the third quarter proved costly.
The Eagles, who were kicking with about a three-goal breeze, kicked six goals to the Sharks’ one.
“We attacked too hard and didn’t defend well enough,” Mantynen said.
“We didn’t do enough to shut them down well enough. We didn’t stick to the game plan so we were playing catch-up.”
Mantynen said despite being 34 points down at the last break, they hadn’t given up hope and knew if they stuck to their structures would be back in the game.
They were right, but weren’t able to maintain the momentum the last couple of minutes.
“We made a few poor decisions,” Mantynen said. “We couldn’t find a target inside 50.”
He said Rusiate Komaitai, Thomas Drake and David Fruscalzo were the side’s best.
Victor Micallef and Jeremy Hayes both stepped up in the last quarter to help them get back into the game.
The loss means the Sharks have lost all three of their division 1 finals the past two years.
Mantynen said he would rate this season five out of 10.
“It’s been good to make finals with the amount of injuries we’ve had,” he said.
“People wrote us off mid year. We knew our best football was good enough to match it with the top sides, but we weren’t able to do that consistently enough.
“We would drift off at times.”
Mantynen said they were already looking at players to add to the side next year, with players in the middle age bracket to be at the top of that list.
While the seniors season is over, it’s not all bad news for the Sharks. Their reserves and under-19s are through to preliminary finals this weekend.
All their junior sides, both boys and girls, made finals. Only their women’s side missed out.
Craigieburn will play Tullamarine in the preliminary final for a spot in the grand final.
In premier division, Keilor claimed the minor premiership with a 22.9 (141)-6.7 (43) win against Avondale Heights.
