North Whyalla ended Whyalla football's longest premiership drought by winning the 2008 Grand Final after 28 seasons without a flag.
It was a fairy tale rise from the bottom of the ladder for the Magpies, with an injection of new players and the maturity of some the club's star juniors, together with new coach Freddie Freeman, North were not to be denied in front of an enormous crowd in fine and sunny conditions.
In one of the most exciting Grand Finals in a long time, North came from behind in the last quarter to win by 10 points.
North started the better and had an early lead but as the first quarter wore on, West completely dominated play.
Tempers were short and frees were paid very quickly against any team not willing to play by the rules.
West were the recipients of a free after a goal allowing them a second shot, although they failed to capitalise on many easy shots during the first quarter.
North captain Chad Menzies was closely tagged by Nick Tzantzoglou and Menzies let his frustration get the better of him and gave away of some unnecessary frees, much to the disgust of coach Freeman.
West wasted many chances in the first quarter and really needed to be further in front considering the breeze and the fact they had eight scoring shots to two.
A highlight of the quarter was a spectacular one handed mark to beanpole West ruckman, Ben English.
West's quarter time lead was 21 points.
The second quarter saw play open a little more with more goals being kicked although it was still hard to score.
North had the use of a moderate breeze but again it was West who dominated the majority of the quarter.
Nick Prokopec was handy for North without kicking many goals and he was attracting the attention of two or three West backmen.
Aaron Smith was providing good rebound for the Dragons and North's Brad Medlin had some good touches in the middle.
Like the first quarter, West simply did not make the most of their opportunities and although Winders, Henderson and Bradley Smith were getting the ball, the scoreboard did not tick over enough for the Dragons.
It was at about the 18 minute mark of the second quarter that people noticed the change in the game.
For the remaining seven minutes of the quarter it was all North.
From it appearing that West would take a five-goal or more lead into half time, North finished the quarter strongly and kicked two late goals, one on the siren, to bring the margin back to 20 points at the main break.
West 7-6, North 4-4 at half time.
The third quarter saw North continue from where it finished the second quarter.
Chad Clothier was exceptional in his delivery of the ball and was clearly one of North's best players.
Medlin continued to get the ball and Ernesti on the wing was displaying his speed and agility.
West were noticeably affected by the injury to Team of the Year player, Scott Norman, who left the ground early with a leg injury and could not return.
This gap in the West team was exploited by North.
The spite from the first quarter returned and so did the frees.
More off the ball frees were paid and now it was North's turn to receive another shot at goal following a free after a goal was scored.
All of North's third quarter goals were indirectly related to over zealous play by West resulting in either frees or 50 metre penalties allowing shots at goal from the goal line.
At the other end though, West could not manage to get anything going.
Only two shots at goal for the quarter with the breeze for West meant North were going into the final quarter with the momentum.
With much of the crowd who did not barrack for either team seeming to be supporting West, it was left to the enormous North supporter group to rally behind their team.
There was a feeling around the ground that with North kicking with the breeze and with their dominance of the third quarter, that now was the time for that magical premiership to arrive.
West still lead by 13 points at the start of the final term but they failed to kick a goal for the final quarter and that was never going to be enough against a North team thriving on the noise from the crowd.
Menzies, Medlin and especially Clothier and Ernesti continued to make contests and deliver the ball well to peg away at the West lead but it took until mid way through the last quarter for North to hit the front, courtesy of an excellent kick and goal from Prokopec.
From there West did not look like coming back.
Seymour was extremely damaging in the second half and Brown and Atkinson really stopped West being able to get the ball into their forward line in the last quarter.
The breeze wasn’t that strong to suggest West couldn’t score it was simply that North were too determined to let this one slip.
Leigh Symons was excellent all day for the Dragons and Coach Sawford, in possibly his last game, was his usual bustling best.
Henderson was a focal point for West and Winders tried hard especially in the last quarter.
In what wasn’t the greatest spectacle of skilled football that had a lot of frees and throw ins, the excitement, toughness and the closeness of the game will make this a game to be remembered.
The huge throng of black and white that ran onto the ground at the sound of the final siren and the tears on the face of some of the North stalwarts, who hadn’t seen grand final success since the triple premiership in the 70s, made this a day to be savoured by the League and the big crowd who attended.
Many commented that it was the biggest Grand Final crowd in recent memory.
Brad Medlin won the Nash Travers Medal for best on ground with an honourable mention going to Ernesti and especially Chad Clothier whose skills and vision had to be seen to be believed.
None of the teams who won straight through to the Grand Final two weeks ago won on the weekend, and for North it was a 12 goal turnaround from two weeks ago.
North and West played each other five times in 2008 with North winning three.
West fielded one of the youngest Grand Final teams in history and probably suffered a bit from the inconsistency that comes with young players but they will no doubt be a force again in 2009.
Congratulations to North Whyalla - Whyalla’s premier team for 2008!
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