Deer Park’s Shannon Broadbent capped off a superb Western Region
Football League division 1 finals series with the Herb Pascarl Medal for
best-on-ground in the grand final.
Broadbent took on board player-coach Marc Bullen’s ‘harder for
longer’ motto and delivered with a consistent four-quarter performance
that caught the eyes of the umpires.
Broadbent got better as the game wore on, with his ability to fish the ball out in heavy traffic a feature.
“It was a grind,” he told the Weekly about his side’s comeback to win after going 41 points behind at the eight-minute mark of the second quarter.
“We knew at three-quarter-time we had the momentum.
“It was a matter of keep getting the ball forward and, hopefully, luck would come our way, which it did.”
PICTURE GALLERY: Deer Park v Spotswood, grand final
Broadbent conceded that Spotswood, led by hard-at-it onballer Tom
Langlands, put the Lions onball brigade to the sword for much of the
first half.
For the Lions, it was about keeping the faith in Bullen’s game plan and restoring parity at the clearances was a top priority.
“At half-time we spoke about contested footy, we were getting smashed at the stoppages,” he said.
“When we reassessed, we wanted to break even at the stoppages, get the ball forward and put pressure on them.
“If you’re first in for the footy, 80 per cent of the time you’re going to get the free kick, so that’s what we tried to do.
“We knew we could put the score on the board to win.”
Broadbent was a major part of the solution and the reason he stood atop the premiership dais with a best-on medal to cherish.
He admitted to being surprised when his name was called out in the
presentations, feeling it could have gone to any one of up to six
players, but gleefully accepted the honour.
“I don’t think anyone really dominated today,” he said.
“Everyone had their little spurts.
“To win an individual honour is always good, it’s the icing on the cake.”
WRFL DIVISION 1 GRAND FINAL STORIES
The breakdown: Quarter x quarter
