KEW Hockey Club

Pennant C: Kew vs. Greensborough (1-0)

They say that sometimes there is a moment before a momentous occasion where your destiny reveals itself. Its almost like watching your personal slide show before the event. As I rubbed my eyes at 5:32 I winced, hoping for that moment of clarity, looking for the “sign” that everything would be alright. But if there was a sign buried in the sub-plots of Thomas The Tank, then I was missing it.

There are several reasons why making the 2009 Grand Final was so important. Some of the old clichés of “reward for hard work”, or “reward for talent and excellence” apply. Perhaps even some form of “justice” might be appropriate, given the dominant season we enjoyed. But the real reason making the 2009 Grand Final was so important, was so Nick Reid could put the finishing touches on the “Mad Monday” celebrations he had begun organising in April.

With temperatures set to soar, selection was all-important. We welcomed Andrew Wingrove back into our side and the rest was as you were.

And after we flirted with two trainings before our first semi-final (what were we thinking?) we reverted back to one for the cut throat of a prelim. In this way, we are probably like ’80′s rock band Poison, who were famous for never rehearsing – they just went out and played. Spontaneous. Kamikaze. Rock-n-Roll.

As we prepared for the game we received our words of wisdom from captain Nath… Then from President Tags… Then from fullback Jono… Then from wise old Winny… Then from the master strategist Reidy… Then from the General in Hubba… In fact, we had more people giving the instructions than we did actually listening.

As the game started, Kew had what in AFL terms might be called a six goal breeze. We had most of the play and asked most of the questions, but we were lacking a killer blow. Lachie and Reidy both squandered good early chances.

Our defence has so often our sword and our shield. And it was again on the weekend as Jono and Nath were laying desperate tackles one moment and launching attacks the next. We seemed to have the match on our sticks, but lacked composure in the front third. But Hubba, Steve Gale and Cam Nelson looked hungry and you had the sense it would come.

It took a penalty corner to break the deadlock. It was a bunt left to Winny and a shot across the face… a brave dive at the post from Lachie helped ease the ball across the line.

To be fair, 1-0 at half time was barely par for the course given the favourable conditions we had enjoyed.

The second half proved a grim war of attrition and it took a committed effort from all over the pitch. This time Greensborough enjoyed the lions share of possession, as the defence held firm. Alex Tan cleared what he need to; Hamish Nelson, Ben Tibbals and Jonny Hyatt  ran like greyhounds and Tags organised his troops.

With eight minutes to go, Tags’ thought he’d even things up and get himself sent off. It worked well and it made life that much harder still. Not to be outdone, fellow committee member Lachie miscalculated five yards and also received his marching orders.

But the boys hung on to record a not-so-famous, but very satisfying victory. Tough, hot, sweaty and more Ugly Betty than Ursula Andress.

You can’t win it if you don’t make it and we’ve done that.