The South West Football League fell to Peel Football and Netball League in the Landmark Country Football Championship division one grand final for the second consecutive year on Sunday.
Needing to win both their matches on Saturday to qualify for the grand final, the South West easily accounted for Great Northern and Avon at Fremantle Oval.
Sunday’s final at Perth’s Leederville Oval saw both sides start cautiously with both keen to not make any mistakes early.
Eventually a small mistake from Mason Hislop coming out of defence gave Peel’s Kieran May a chance to bomb home the first goal of the day from 55 metres out.
Ten minutes later it would turn out to be the only goal of the term with Peel leading 1.1.7 to 0.2.2 at quarter time.
Peel had a number of chances early in the second term but were sloppy in attack. Meanwhile the South West’s defence was well tested with Will Oelsnik and Shane Cristaldi standing strong.
Courtney Lakay goaled for Peel but Patrick Farrant hit back soon after through a free kick 30 metres out.
Jon Meadmore had a chance to trim the margin further with a shot after the half time siren but the ball drifted across the face of goal for a behind. Peel led 2.4.16 to 1.3.9 at the main break.
The Cavaliers brought a fresh energy to the third term and scored the first goal of the term after Andrew Haydon drew a free kick for a high tackle.
Jayce Fontana kicked a goal at the other end to keep the South West in the hunt.
Peel could easily have put the game on ice with a number of forward 50 entries but poor accuracy gave them four behinds.
Both sides worked the ball strongly through the corridor and it took a bit of magic from Lakay to get Peel back on track.
He weaved through heavy traffic and hit Haydon smack bang on the chest. Haydon dished it out to Clay Smith who nailed a goal from point-blank range to give Peel a 4.8.32 to 2.4.16 lead at the final change.
Once again Peel started a new term with a goal, this time off the boot of Stuart Puls. The margin stretched further with a goal to Rob Falkstrom.
Credit where it is due, the South West side were not prepared to give up and kicked the last two goals of the game through Aidan Clarke and Brett Peake.
Joel Houghton had a chance to add one more but hit the post. The final siren saw Peel claim back-to-back titles 6.10.46 to 4.6.30.
Lakay was named best-on-ground for the grand final while Peel’s Andrew Haydon was crowned player of the carnival. Bunbury’s Aidan Clarke was named the competition’s best up-and-comer and was selected for the all-star team alongside Brett Peake and Joel Houghton.