St Pats defeats Old Scotch to win NTFA division one grand final

The Thistles were left to rue their missed opportunities while the Saints made the most of them.

St Pats hadn't won a senior premiership since 2004.

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Jake Laskey, who kicked two goals, received the best on ground medal.

Laskey had been involved in three losing grand finals the past three seasons so it was a victory he'll savour.

"I've definitely had my times on the other side of the fence so it's good just to get back on this side of the fence and come in and see people smiling," he said.

"Credit to the club, you walk in after the game and there's a lot of old fellas crying and it shows how emotional today is.

"It's a massive thing, we're definitely not going to take this for granted."

William van den Berg, Julian James, Jake Kilby, Callum Harrison and Liam Brown also put in big games for the Saints.

Charlie Eastoe was outstanding for the Thistles with four majors.

Lachlan McFadzean, Tom Johns, Jonty Swallow, Aiden Jackman and Nick Miller also battled hard.

MATCH REPORT:

Laskey, who started forward and moved onto the ball, was electric in the opening minutes.

He snapped two goals and missed a set shot to take the Saints to an early lead.

Meanwhile, the Thistles struggled with their forward-50 entries and two attacks were chopped off by St Pats defenders.

Jacob Martin had their first set shot from a tight angle in the forward pocket but cannoned the ball into the behind post.

At the other end, Patrick Rodman kicked a goal on the run from 50 metres out to put the Saints 20 points up.

St Pats' transition from half-back was impressive and they took a 21-point lead to quarter-time.

Old Scotch coach Brayley Coombes challenged his troops at the huddle.

He asked for composure, increased tackling intent and for his players to back themselves with their 45 degree kicks.

The Thistles came out firing in the second term and Eastoe played a quarter to remember.

He was everywhere and you got the feeling Old Scotch needed to get the ball in his hands as much as possible.

He evaded opponents to snap through his team's first major.

Later he received a free-kick for a high tackle and kicked truly from 30m out to get the Thistles within seven points.

The Thistles, who won the inside-50s 15 to 6 in the second quarter, otherwise missed numerous set shots or didn't make the distance.

In an exciting passage of play, Nathan Barry streamed through the midfield and booted long to open space in the forward line.

St Pats' Jake Cairns got a favourable bounce and sent one through the big sticks from the goal square.

Not long after the Saints' Josh Bellchambers took a strong grab 15m out and kicked truly to make it an 18-point margin.

McFadzean and Jock Darke missed gettable chances before Darke found Eastoe 25m out.

Eastoe converted right on the half-time siren to give the Thistles a lift going to the main break.

St Pats led by 10 points at half-time.

The teams traded points in an arm-wrestle of a third quarter.

Cairns, who made a strong lead, was caught high and also received a 50m penalty which took him straight to goal square for a certain snag.

St Pats landed another blow when Bellchambers bombed to the top of the goal square and Laskey gathered.

He dished off to Jye Balym who banged it home.

The Saints had put their foot down at a crucial part of the game and were up by 21 points.

They could have caused greater damage but Jake King and Laskey missed shots.

Old Scotch's Jackson Young, Josh Mathews, McKenzie, Jonty Swallow and Eastoe missed chances at the other end in a quarter of wasted opportunities.

St Pats led by 19 points at three-quarter time.

Coombes urged his players to believe and pointed to their stunning preliminary final finish against Lilydale in a rousing address.

Early in the final term, Connor Bryant went for home on the run but the ball swung left for a behind.

It wasn't long before Laskey got a free-kick and 50m penalty in a situation which was hard to make sense of from the sidelines.

He sent the ball through the sticks from the goal square to make it a 24-point margin.

King, who had missed a few chances, ended up kicking the sealer with a snap around the body to put the Saints up by 31 points.

St Pats co-coach Alex Russell said the victory felt like "relief more than anything".

"It's been a long time coming for this footy club, we've come so close so many times," he said.

"We knew we had something special in this group but to see it come together when it mattered was so pleasing."

He praised his team's efficiency and work-rate.

"We hit the scoreboard well and when we did go forward we took our chances in front of goal," he said.

"The first quarter was fantastic and our mids grinded all day.

"There were seven or eight blokes going through there and they just continued to work their butt off."

Intercept marking was a feature of St Pats' game.

"We always like to have our backs intercept marking and they did that today, they rolled the dice and impacted and drove us over the line when we started to plateau a little bit," Russell said.

"Our backs have been our best for the past five years and we saw today why."

It's St Pats' first senior premiership since 2004.

"It's an extremely long time coming, I think we may have lost three or four grand finals," Russell said.

"We challenge every year, we've missed finals once since 2004 and we've always been the team that just doesn't quite get there.

"We're breaking a couple of hodoos of our own."

Coombes said his group battled hard but their skill level wasn't up to scratch.

"Our forwards tried really hard but we lacked cohesion," he said.

"At the end of the day, it was just our general basics (that let us down). We dropped so many marks, missed so many targets which with a big ground like this should have really been our one wood today.

"But simply our skill errors let us down which allowed us to play into their hands.

"To their credit, they were clean and composed and deserved winners."

He's positive about where the Thistles are at.

"We're on a journey, we're now three years into that since I took over as senior coach," he said.

"We've gone from basically going out in straight sets to winning a couple of finals and making the big dance.

"The trajectory is heading in the right direction so fingers-crossed we can come back bigger and stronger next year and get it done when it counts."

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