WDFNL senior football grand final: Sizzling starts sets up dominant grand final win

The Blues barely gave Panmure a chance to settle, running in waves, intercepting at will and playing with the spirit which embodies their proud and passionate community.

The club - quietly nestled just under 30 minutes from Warrnambool - has now won three of the past five premierships.

A dynasty is building along Blakes Road.

But it was the manner in which the Blues won which was indicative of how Brayden Harkness' side played all season - without fear and with the freedom to play to their strengths.

The Blues won 16.22 (118) to 4.7 (31), piling on the first five goals and never looking back from there.

With the game all-but sown up at half-time and the Blues holding a 54-point lead, the Bulldogs - to their credit - did try and get things moving to open up the game but Harkness' side always had the answers.

Dylan Lees was the firestarter, kicking the opening two majors of the game, big man Scott Lenehan was instrumental in the ruck and up forward, Danny Craven shone and key defender Mathew Lloyd played a near flawless game intercepting off the defensive arc.

As for the coach himself, he was instrumental with his bravery in defence and piercing field kicking through the corridor to be duly awarded the AFL Vic Country Medal as best afield, with Craven snaring the Scotty Stewart Memorial Trophy.

Harkness - now a first-time premiership coach - told The Standard it was a win years in the making.

"When I started coaching in 2020 we did a pre-season and it got called off and last year we hit our straps and didn't get to play finals so it feels like it's a premiership a few years in the making," he said.

"It could have easily gone the other way today and you wouldn't have got the recognition you deserved, so I'm just really happy for the boys and the supporters and community that we have something tangible for all the hard work we've put in the last few years."

The Blues mentor says he has seen first-hand the growth in the club on and off field over the past few years, with the 2022 premiership cup to now proudly sit alongside the 2016 and 2018 glories.

"I didn't play in 2016 but everyone would agree it was a pinched one but we were fortunate enough we had a young group at that point we've kept together - James (Willsher) is a prime example of that, played his 100^th game year, John Paulin was incredible today, Dylan Lees, those boys who've been through thick and thin," he said.

"We've held onto our core and topped up where we needed to, and we've stuck together and been rewarded with a couple of special days like these in September.

"Growing up playing juniors at Nirranda, we usually coped a bit of a hiding so if you told me then I'd be standing up with a cup in my hands I wouldn't have believed you.

"The upward trajectory the club has been on in the last few years has been incredible, its reward for effort. There's a few that will get a bit of credit but there's so much work done behind the scenes and I couldn't have been prouder of everyone at the club."

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