For the seventh time in the past eight years the NCFL grand final was decided by less than 15 points as the Saints won by eight, 13.8 (86) to 11.12 (78), at Wedderburn after regaining the momentum late in the contest.

After a dominant third term in which it gained control of the match, St Arnaud looked firmly on track to march to the premiership when it led by 26 points at three quarter-time thanks to its far superior conversion of 11.6 to 6.10.

However, as recent years have shown, an NCFL grand final is never over and this one was no different as the Navies climbed off the canvas and surged.

Having kicked just six goals for the first 88 minutes of the contest, the Navies – spurred on by the disappointment of losing the past two grand finals - unleashed five in a 10-minute burst to hit the front midway through the last term.

The spark came when Navies’ coach Aaron Walklate’s shot from 50m bounced through for a goal at the six-minute mark.

That was followed in the next 10 minutes by goals to Mark Vigus, Luke Kyriakides, Anthony Judd – who produced one of the game’s highlights with his last quarter speccy – and James Baird.

When Baird goaled from 25m it seemed in the blink of an eye the Navy Blues had gone from 27 points down early in the final quarter to four points up and with all the momentum.

And that lead looked set to be extended to 10 points when Joe McGrath marked in the goalsquare, only to have a free-kick paid against him for a push.

It was a decisive moment in the frantic final quarter as soon after, the Saints’ Gavin Vassallo goaled to put St Arnaud back in front by two points.

And when Saints’ speedster Justin Cooper had two bounces and delivered to Des Darcy medallist Nick Coghlan, who marked and converted his fifth goal, it gave St Arnaud an eight-point buffer at the 23-minute mark in what was the final score of the game.

Earlier, Nick Coghlan was instrumental in an outstanding third quarter from the Saints after they had trailed by nine points at half-time.

With ruckman Luke Wells, who won the AFL Victoria Country Medal, controlling the centre square and the Saints generating plenty of run, St Arnaud piled on 7.2 to 1.3 in the third term.

Coghlan was super in kicking three goals for the term, as well as setting up another to Cooper after he passed off having taken a hanger.

Having been held to just four goals in the first half, the Saints slammed on five in the first 15 minutes of the third quarter, during which the Navies – who earlier squandered opportunities in the first term when they kicked a wasteful 1.6 - were barely able to penetrate their forward 50.