By Tara Murray
Sunbury United Tigers’ premiership dreams ended at the final hurdle, losing the NRL Vic first grade grand final on Sunday.
Facing the Werribee Bears, who were going for a third straight premiership, the Tigers took up the challenge.
In a low scoring match, both sides had their chances and in the end it was the Bears that got up, winning 12-8.
Tigers coach Terry Constantinou said it wasn’t an ideal finish to the season.
He said the Bears’ finals experience showed through when it was needed.
“We had our chances,” he said. “They scored off our mistakes.
“We had a few more opportunities but they executed better. We had a three to four minute period at the end where we had possession at their goal line back couldn’t score.”
Constantinou said while they were disappointed with the end result, they had shown massive improvement this year.
It was the Tigers first grand final since 2014.
“Our average age is a lot younger than Werribee’s,” he said.
“We started the season 0-2 and that wasn’t ideal. We came back and became one of the front runners.
“We can take away a lot of positives and we will be better for it next year.”
Constantinou, who hasn’t decided whether he will coach again next season, said the key for the club was to keep the playing group together.
“If we can keep the core group together and possibly pick up a couple of players, it would be good.
“The core group is strong and still young. If we can stay together and build on the combinations it’ll hold us in good stead.”
