Isaac Farmilo might have delivered the early blow but it was Workies’ defence that proved fatal for Tudor Wests in Sunday’s grand final.
Led by player of the grand final Ehren Hazell, the minor premiers were in coach Andrew Farmilo’s words “unbelievable” in defence.
That was reflected on the scoreboard with Workies claiming their ninth title in 10 years with a 4-nil triumph.
“The whole key was to be switched on in defence and we did not let up for 70 minutes,” Farmilo said.
“We limited to them a couple of shots and a couple of penalty corners.”
It was the cornerstone – everything else stemmed from their defence.
“You could just tell the midfield didn’t feel the need to work back as hard and could afford to be a bit higher,” Farmilo said.
The game was barely a couple of minutes old when son Isaac slotted the first of his hat-trick, and from there they controlled the game.
As Tudors captain Brett Lobsey remarked at the presentation, Workies “took all the moments away from us”.
Familo said that early goal put a bit of a different complexion on the game.
“When you score an early goal and you’re minor premiers you know they have to score two goals,” he said.
Hazell doubled their advantage midway through the first half. He worked brilliantly in tandem with Jack Cruickshank and Tim McKenzie at the back, Toby Whitten also running down a couple of Tudors’ corners.
Lobsey said it “just didn’t happen” for them, that early goal putting them on the backfoot straight away.
“They scored off a couple of screamers,” he said.
They in contrast “didn’t take our chances that we had”, their attack suffering from the amount of defending they had to do. They didn’t have the numbers, or the energy, to move forward with the same swiftness that Workies did.
“We just turned over too many balls,” Lobsey said, adding that any momentum they got was quickly snuffed out by Hazell and co.
He was though proud of everyone’s efforts.
Noah Pitt worked tirelessly while Sam Lobsey was strong in defence.
Sam Holt also had a “blinder” in goals.
The scoreboard could have been even uglier for Tudors if not for him.
At one stage in the first half he was like a pinball, making four fantastic saves in the space of about 20 seconds as Workies pressed for a second goal.
RESULT
WORKIES 4 (Isaac Farmilo 3, Ehren Hazell gls) d TUDOR WESTS 0.
