AFTER being red-hot favourites all season, Ramblers convincingly beat a lacklustre Mypolonga by 36 points on Saturday to break their 21-year premiership drought.
Playing in hot, windy conditions at a packed LeMessurier Oval, the Roosters secured its first flag since 1987.
Ramblers won the toss and elected to kick with the breeze but the Tigers were the first to attack through forward Brad Martin.
Martin was unable to score with his first attempt but his second resulted in the first goal of the game.
Ramblers were soon able to get into the game and use the breeze, with Trent Paech booting their first of the match.
Mail Medallist Liam O’Neil was also involved in the game early and his crumbing goal put his side in front. Ramblers’ defence was holding strong early and, in what was to be the trend for the game, Daniel Zadow continually shut down the Tigers run.
Mypolonga was struggling after dominating early and if it was not for Joe Pedler in defence, the margin would have been greater than three goals at quarter time.
Ramblers continued from the first term as their midfielders began to provide some run.
It soon paid dividends when a second goal to Liam O’Neil extended the margin.
When Clint Girardi also registered his second, the margin was out to five goals.
Ramblers’ pressure was exceptional and Mypolonga could not find an avenue to goal.
Martin had been shut down and the Tigers’ other forwards in Cameron Wells and David Wallfried were having no influence on the match.
A goal on the siren to Mypolonga’s Brendan Corrie helped close the margin to 32 points at half time.
The third term saw Ramblers outscore the Tigers five goals to three and effectively put the match out of reach.
Mypolonga’s discipline had been tested all day and finally boiled over when George Pedler was given a red card.
Girardi had been a handful all day and he and Ryan Morris were now dominating up forward, booting four goals between them for the quarter.
Down by more than seven goals, Mypolonga came out to add some respect to the scoreboard with four goals to two in the final term.
A great crumbing goal by Jed Dunbar gave him his second goal of the game and a switch up forward gave Joe Pedler his first for the match.
As the siren blew, the Ramblers faithful streamed onto the oval to celebrate their side braking a long drought.
Ramblers premiership captain Mark Marchetti said he saw the win as “a long time coming” but said it was “due”.
For Rambler coach Anthony Weyland, the flag gets the “monkey of their back” and “means everything” for the Ramblers Football Club.
The win was made even sweeter with Mark Marchetti and Tyson Matthews going down to injury during the game.
He said the win was special as a majority of his players had come up from their juniors to play in the grand final.
The Patrons Medal for best on ground was awarded to Ramblers’ Daniel Zadow but other contributors were Trent Paech, Ty Pfeiffer and Jarrad Weyland.
Tigers coach Damien Cross said the loss was “bitterly disappointing” but acknowledged that Ramblers were better on the day.
Mypolonga had tried all day with both James and Joe Pedler wearing their heart on their sleeve as both played well in defence and in the middle.
However this season will be remembered for Ramblers being a determined outfit which went about bringing the flag back to LeMessurier Oval.
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