By Tara Murray
Rupertswood captain Brent Swallow said they had silenced some of their critics after finally claiming a Riddell District Football League senior premiership.
Swallow, who has been through all the finals disappointment since moving to the RDFL, said it was really good to finally get that flag.
“It’s only been four or five years in the making and silence some critics I guess,” he said.
“We got in the players we needed and were missing last year.
“Having a healthy list at this time of year helps, I’m over the moon about it to finally get there.”
Having won two finals at Clarke Oval during this finals campaign, the Sharks were confident they had an advantage over the Magpies going into the weekend’s match.
The Sharks jumped out of the blocks and led by 48 points at half-time.
Swallow said while they were happy, they weren’t getting comfortable.
“We tried to keep it low-key to be honest, we knew we were up by a bit.
“If we can put eight goals on in a quarter, so could they.
“The object was to kick the first few of the third quarter, which we did.
“We knew we were fit, it was just a matter of time before we broke them.”
With the game all but over at three-quarter time, it was a bit of party time after that.
Swallow said it was the sort of performance that they wanted to put out.
“Getting Seany [Hetherington] and Billy [Cannolo] back from the VFL helps,” he said.
“Sugar [Kayne Murphy] is flying, Lochie [Muir] is flying and [Dean] Putty is flying.
“It’s the first finals series we’ve had Putty fit and he makes a huge difference.
“It was just a whole team performance and shows what we can do when we put a game together.”
Swallow, who kicked two goals, was awarded the AFL Victoria Country Medal as one of the best on ground.
One of the competition’s best midfielders, Swallow has spent a lot of time in the forward line during the finals.
After claiming the premiership, he revealed why. “I only moved forward cause of my injury,” he said. “I tore my medial in the last round of the season and I limped through the finals series.
“I was just hoping it wasn’t an ACL. Nash [Egan] is a physio and he was pretty confident I could be out there playing.
“I adapted and we do bat so deep, there’s less pressure to get up in the midfield and I can play a role down forward.”
