The pain of losing three grand finals in a row hasn’t eased for Diggers Rest Football Club.
It’s two weeks since the Burras lost the Riddell District Football League decider to Romsey, but it will take longer than that for the scars to heal.
For three years, Diggers Rest has been a constant feature at the top end of the ladder.
In that time the Burras have won 38 home-and-away matches and lost just nine.
Despite it imposing finals record, Diggers Rest has been unable to grab a premiership cup.
But in the club’s three grand final defeats, its players have never been disgraced.
Three years ago, only a single-figure margin stood between Diggers Rest and Riddell. And the past two grand finals, both against Romsey, have been decided by a combined 28 points.
Diggers Rest coach Shaun Sims says the most recent loss was incredibly hard to take.
“We’re still bitterly disappointed with the result. That will take some time to get over.
“It was hard for the guys to cop, but you just have to. The fact is we were better than 11 other teams in the competition.
“We wanted to win it and I suppose you put that element down as a failure.”
Adding to the disappointment was the near- miss for the Burras reserves, who also came close to premiership success.
After leading at three-quarter time, Diggers Rest went down by 18 points to Sunbury Kangaroos in their grand final.
The recently re-formed under-18s also qualified for the finals, before being knocked out by Woodend Hesket.
Sims is confident the long-term affect for the club will be positive, with a number of players from those lower-grade teams expected to push for senior selection next years.
He highlighted Brad Wilson and Josh Wallace as up-and-comers he believes will graduate to the Burras’ seniors.
Wilson played most of last year in the reserves, where he kicked 22 goals, while Wallace split his time between the seniors and seconds.
If opposition clubs are hoping finals disappointment will have a lasting impact on Diggers Rest’s hunger to return to the top next season, they will be mistaken.
“The club will survive,” Sims said. “We’ve been relatively successful for a long time and nothing will change from that side of it.
“We’ll keep looking to get better, develop the guys we’ve got, get some new coaches in to help support that and just try to improve.”
Sims has declared his intention to remain as head coach, his third season in the top job. But he says it’s likely he has played his last senior game.
