Longford defeats Rocherlea in 2022 NTFA premier grand final

It was spine-tingling.

Fans were smiling from ear to ear, players were roaring and there were tears of joy from the club faithful.

Longford defeated Rocherlea 12.9 (81) to 7.11 (53) to secure their first senior premiership since 1989 in front of a huge fan-base.

The crowd was 6,249 across the day.

Playing-coach Beau Thorp summed up the mood.

"Thank God, the monkey's off the back for the club," he said.

"Thirty-three years is a long time. I just spoke to a couple of guys in the room who won the last premiership.

"They were over the moon and had tears in their eyes. And they're looking forward to getting back to the footy club tonight and celebrating properly. It's definitely been too long."

The 'Longford, Longford, Longford' chant could be heard throughout the day and Thorp praised the fans.

"It was fantastic to see so many people come out and put their Longford gear on and get behind us," he said.

"In the warm-up, I noticed a couple of people I hadn't seen for a few years at the footy.

"When Rocherlea had a bit of a run on you could hear the Longford crowd really lift.

"(LMC) Luke Murfitt-Cowen kicked a couple of goals and the crowd erupted."

Thorp said Longford always knew Rocherlea would never give up and they would have to withstand their attacks.

"I spoke to our boys pre-game about weathering their storm and that they were going to kick goals and to accept they were going to score and move on with it," he said.

"So I was really proud of our boys, they didn't drop their heads at any stage and they played with a lot of confidence to cross the ball into the middle out the other side.

"We knew our ball movement was going to be our strength."

Thorp said winning the reserves and seniors showed the club's depth.

"I caught up with a couple of mentor coaches early in the year and they said that with COVID and everything that's happening at the moment, you've got to focus on your depth," he said.

"You're going to have 36 to 38 players-plus go through your senior side this year. So we worked on a lot of things from within the club.

"We only really recruited one or two players. We drew on the guys who played in the reserves premiership last year and put a lot of time into developing those into senior premiership players."

Rocherlea playing-coach Josh Ponting felt Longford played the big moments better.

"Unfortunately, we didn't get over the line," he said.

"To Longford's credit, they stood up in the moments that mattered and unfortunately my boys weren't able to do that.

"But as I've told my boys, that's footy, you've got to regroup and make sure you stick together and that you can get another crack at it, hopefully."

Ponting explained the Tigers went in with an attacking mindset.

"We were trying to play in front and make it hard for them because obviously they like to use the ball and use the hit-ups and to get good looks at their forwards," he said.

"And I thought we did that well in patches but unfortunately I think we got too high up at times as defenders all over the ground and just got caught out the back."

The Rocherlea mentor said he was super proud of his group.

"We can hold our heads high with our effort," he said.

"Obviously, we didn't get the result and that's going to sting the boys for a bit. But the way they carried themselves to the very last siren I'm proud of."

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Michael Larby, who was awarded best on ground, played in his first senior premiership.

"It's the best feeling in the world, it's been 33 years since we last won one and to win one today it honestly means the world to me," he said.

The ruck/forward started playing for Longford in 2017.

"I always dreamed as a kid that I wanted to be part of senior premiership team," the 22-year-old said.

Both full-forwards played big roles early in the game.

Jordan Cousens, who was Rocherlea's best, banged long and found Josh Holton who added to his 65 goals for the season to make it a goal apiece.

Longford had the ascendancy for most of the first quarter but didn't capitalise and only led by five points at the first change.

Murfitt-Cowen snapped through a set shot from the boundary to get the Country Tigers going in the second term.

Another penetrating kick from Cousens landed in Andrew Cox-Goodyer's hands who converted from 40m out directly in front.

Cousens was keeping his side in the game and kicked a great goal on the run from 45m out.

The City Tigers were up and about when Holton was awarded a downfield free-kick and kicked truly to make it a three-point deficit.

Murfitt-Cowen snagged one from 30m to steady the ship and have Longford up by nine points at half-time.

He added his third goal with a snap from the pocket early in the third stanza.

His efforts were followed by left-footer Oliver Chugg who slotted a major to establish a game-high 19-point margin.

Rocherlea needed a response and it came through Zane Brown who nailed a set shot from 30m.

In the highlight of the quarter, Longford's Lachlan Dakin got in plenty of space at half-forward, straightened up and sent it through the big sticks.

Kaiden Cox-Goodyer got one from close range to get Rocherlea back to within nine points.

The entertaining Murfitt-Cowen was at it again late in third term with a gather, settle and snap from the pocket to put his side up by three goals.

A big moment for Longford came when Josh Gray's set shot fell short and Jackson Blair banged it through with a roving effort near the goal line.

Blair had put his team up by 25 points at three-quarter-time.

Andrew Cox-Goodyer got his second goal early in the final quarter to give Rocherlea a sniff.

When Murfitt-Cowen roved from a contest in the goal square and booted it into the stands you knew it was going to be a historic night.

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