On paper it was a Sydney AFL Grand Final match up that didn’t seem fair. On one side you had the Wollondilly Knights, the team that went through the regular season undefeated, swatting away opponents with disdain all year. Their closest margin of victory was 47 points. On the other side you had the plucky Manly Wolves, a team of misfits in a Grand Final almost by accident after a handful of heavy defeats throughout the year. Unfortunately for Wollondilly the game wasn’t played on paper and the Wolves produced possibly the biggest sporting ambush since Australia 2 stunned the world and left Rhode Island with the America’s Cup in 1983.
Under the lights of Newtown’s iconic Henson Park, Manly got off to a flyer, full forward Jackson Pola Smith leaping above a heavily contested pack to open the scoring. 5 minutes later the Wolves dared to dream after midfielder Connor Pettersson, who by his own admission was lucky to be picked for the decider due to an uncharacteristic form slump, slotted a goal from 50m with his left foot. The Wolves jumped to a two-goal lead at quarter time.
Visibly stunned, Wollondilly looked like a bully who had been hit in the mouth for the first time, unsure how to react. Meanwhile Manly coach Louis Cannatelli was in full control, out coaching his rival at every turn, even having the foresight to provide his team sugar free sports drinks pregame.
The Wolves picked up exactly where they left off in the 2nd quarter. Ruckmen Jacob Albertini and Will Halpin had the ball on a string, and goals to club stalwarts Sam Rix and Darren Fagan – which saw Fagan slice untouched through the Knights’ defence, running over 100m before planting a pearler through the big sticks – had the Wolves travelling to the main break sheds with a stunning 4 goals to 0 lead.
In Aussie Rules circles the 3rd quarter is better known as premiership quarter, and that’s exactly what it turned out to be as the underdog Wolves turned it on, much to the delight of the packed eastern stand full of Northern Beaches faithful. But the quarter was not without incident as Wollondilly, watching their dream season fade to oblivion, resorted to stand over tactics. Justice prevailed. 3 Knights players were yellow carded. The Wolves didn’t escape punishment though. Renowned enforcer David Stroud also spent 15 minutes in the bin – seemingly one minute for every blow he’d received from a supposedly chivalrous Knight.
When play restarted the Wolves absolutely turned it on. Jack Coghlan and Tully Cameron both bagged doubles and Pola Smith kicked his 2nd too. A stunned Henson Park looked to the scoreboard. 61-5 in favour of Manly headed into the final quarter. The last quarter was a Wolves victory lap. Andrew Wright, Jack Parker and Matt Armitage incredibly played most of the match with fractures in their shoulders, while Owen Williams suffered a career ending wrist injury only to bravely play on to the final siren.
Best for the Manly side was Pettersson, winning the famed “Walczak Medal”. Michael Atkinson was also magnificent, as was Michael Amos, running all day on a dodgy hammy. Celebrations kicked through Mad Monday and well into the wee hours of Tuesday morning with a chunk of the side tasting premiership success for the very first time. And didn’t it taste sweet. Manly Wolves 9.9 – 63 def Wollondilly Knights 2.6 – 18