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IT has been a long road to this point for Horsham Saints’ footballers, but Saturday’s clinical display by the club’s senior and reserves sides delivered it a fairy-tale finish to a season that once again promised so much.
This time – unlike the past three – it delivered what it had promised.
After 21 years in the Wimmera Football League since crossing from the Horsham District league, the Saints not only claimed their maiden senior football flag, but doubled up on Saturday as the reserves chimed in to make it two from two.
Heart-breaking defeats in the seniors to Dimboola and Horsham over the past two years had the Saints labelled the perennial bridesmaid of the Wimmera league.
But with a 10-goal-to-one opening half against the Demons in Saturday’s decider, the Saints orchestrated a victory that proved how much they wanted – how much they needed – to taste premiership success.
Senior coach Shayne Breuer delivered a message to his players pre-match about the magnitude of Saturday’s match.
“The main thing was that we’ve been too close for too long,” he said.
“There was a line there that we needed to cross.
“To win is unbelievable and it’s just reward for all the hard work that’s been done over a long period of time.
“It was a fantastic effort by everyone.”
Breuer said the Saints had always believed they belonged at the top echelon of the league, but said there was no question – after so many disappointing grand-final appearances – that the win had replaced a crippling doubt with an oozing of confidence.
“I think it lets the players know we can do it. It gets the monkey off the back,” he said.
“Like Geelong in the AFL, they had that stigma for so long where people would ask ‘who’s going to win the premiership?’ and the answer would be ‘whoever plays Geelong’. In our case, it was ‘who’s going to win the premiership? Whoever plays Horsham Saints’.
“But now that’s gone. We’ve won one, and it puts that to rest.”
Breuer said the future is bright for the Saints.
“This club has played in the last three grand finals, so they’ve been doing something right. We’ve got some fantastic young kids so we need to keep them coming through and just keep building,” he said.
