The Roleystone Tigers went into the 2018 WAAFL E1 grand final on Saturday full of confidence after a great but tough preliminary final win over Swan Athletic.
However, it wasn’t their day at the Wanneroo Showgrounds with the scoreboard at the final siren declaring Noranda champions 8.6 (54) to Roleystone 6.7 (43).
The Tigers got off to a fast start kicking the first three goals of the game and controlled the play for most of the first quarter with Noranda taking the time to settle.
But to Noranda’s credit they bounced back to kick the next three and both teams were within a point heading into the second quarter.
The game would continue to be very close with teams going goal for goal throughout the match with both teams missing chances to put the other team away. Again to Noranda’s credit they opened up a two-goal lead in the final quarter and were able to hold on in a very tight and tough contest to win the 2018 E1 grand final.
Although the team was unable to bring home the flag, the umpires voted Roleystone’s captain Mitchell Lewis best on ground.
It was a bittersweet moment for the captain as he would have happily swapped it for the grand final win.
The season will still go down as a very successful one for the club and with the young team once again playing above themselves week in week out the team look forward to next season where they will have another crack at winning the flag.
Photographs – Richard Polden.
