By Tara Murray
Keilor was hoping history would repeat itself when it lined up against Aberfeldie in the Essendon District Football League Premier division grand final at the weekend.
The last time the Blues were in the grand final, in 2016, they defeated Aberfeldie in both the seniors and reserves.
The Blues were hoping for another double with both its teams lining up on Sunday, but it wasn’t to be.
In the seniors, Keilor kicked the first two goals of the game but it was Aberfeldie that went into the first break 14 points up.
Controlling the ball, the Gorillas opened the game up in the second quarter to extend their lead to 41 points at the main break.
The Blues needed a miracle for a second straight week, but luck wasn’t on their side.
The Gorillas went on to win 17.11 (113)-
7.10 (52).
Blues coach Mick McGuane said they were beaten by a far superior team on the day.
They were already without key defenders Michael Tanner, Jay White and Sam Hooper and then lost full-back David Gourdis to injury early in the game.
“We were restricted early on with Gourdis done six minutes into the game and we had to restructure down back,” McGuane said.
“They controlled the game and we couldn’t stem the blows.
“They kicked too many goals from our errors in high percentage spots.”
With their backs to the wall, the Blues needed a good third quarter, and while it was their best quarter for the game, they only had two goals to show for it.
McGuane said they wasted opportunities.
“We kicked 2.5 in the third quarter and it was the only quarter we won.
“We missed a lot of opportunities. We couldn’t get the offence going and turned it over too often.
“We had enough inside 50s to challenge them, but we didn’t.”
McGuane said they lacked any winners on the day, which reflected on the scoreboard.
Despite the result, he couldn’t be prouder of the efforts the guys had put in across the year.
He said injuries had taken their toll throughout the season and it was again the case on Sunday.
Pic Marco De Luca
“We didn’t have Hooper and Tanner,” he said. “Jay White was injured in the second semi-final, he hadn’t missed a game all year, and Gourdis going down.
“That’s four really good defenders missing and it hurt the group. Add to those four, Nick O’Kearney, who is arguably one of the best midfielders in the competition.
“Andrew Browne only played eight games for the year and he’s the premier ruckman in the competition.
“It’s not about the injuries, it’s who the injuries are to. It makes it hard to cover.
“We had a lot of key players missing across the year.
“It makes it hard to get what you want when you’re missing players. But we were able to play some young kids and give them opportunities.
“They experienced wins and they experienced the ups and downs of a finals series. We never gave up and were never out of the contest.”
It was a tough day all round for the Blues, with their reserves losing their grand final to Greenvale, 15.8 (98)-10.2 (62).
McGuane said the club can only guess what could have been if they were closer to full strength.
“It’s not easy. We gave 44 players an opportunity to play in a grand final, which is a real positive.
“You don’t get a lot of opportunities to make grand finals, let alone win one.”
