A strong start helped Navarre to a big elimination final win over Royal Park at Hedges Oval on Sunday.
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A four-goal opening term helped the experienced Grasshoppers to a quarter-time 18-point lead.
Royal Park answered the challenge and gave themselves a winning chance as they reduced the margin to just eight points at half time.
“We came out fairly well but we became complacent in the second quarter,” Navarre coach Kyle Hendy said.
“We weren’t as accountable as we needed to be.”
After a half-time rev up, the Grasshoppers lifted their intensity in the second half.
They booted 12 goals to three in the second half of the match to go on and record a 18.13 (121) to 8.8 (56) win.
“We brought the same intensity in the second half as we had in the first quarter,” Hendy said.
“Everyone began working together and started to move the ball a lot more quickly.”
Navarre shared its goals around among nine different goal scorers, with Aaron Slorach kicking four goals and Jesse Hannett and Sam Kaye kicking thee goals each in the 65-point victory.
Jesse Hannett, Luke Hendy and Josh Fowkes were key players in the victory as were Aaron Slorach, Sam Kaye and Austin Squire.
“Austin had a role to do as a defensive forward and played it perfectly,” Hendy said.
The senior football team is the only side left in finals for the Grasshoppers, with its under-11.5 football and 17-and-under netball teams losing elimination finals.
