At 4.53pm on Saturday, September 19, the Hills-based East Coast Eagles entered the history books when they won the 2009 AFL NSW State League Grand Final at Blacktown Olympic Park. It was the first premier division premiership for the club since the Eagles were established in the year 2000, prior to which they played as the Baulkham Hills Falcons.

Before a large and enthusiastic crowd who were basking in superb weather conditions, the UNSW-ES Bulldogs took an early lead when former Swans star Troy Luff kicked their first goal. The Eagles quickly replied with a raking long range drop punt from 17-year-old Daniel Spiteri. Things were tight as the Bulldogs kicked another and the Eagles knew they had a game on their hands.

But East Coast had a very large ace up their sleeve. He had been their focal point all year at full-forward and big Gus Seebeck went into the grand final with 101 goals under his belt and finished the match with 111. His incredible 10-goal haul started halfway through the first quarter when he kicked truly from a strong overhead mark when under enormous Bulldog pressure. They knew how dangerous he could be.

Seebeck’s second goal put the Eagles in front and they were never headed from that point on. Although Gus provided the solutions in front of goal and went on to be awarded the Rod Podbury Medal for the best player on the ground, the other 21 players needed to be at their peak to get the ball to him. And each and every one of them responded.

The Bulldogs had held ascendancy in the ruck all season with former Swans and SANFL ruckman Earl Shaw feeding his midfielders with plenty of the footy. East Coast coach Glenn Garner knew, however, that he had the cattle to counter this dominance with Ed Wilson working tirelessly against his taller opponent.

At ground level, Brad Ure and Ryan Fitton, two local Baulkham Hills juniors gave their legion of fans plenty to cheer about with their inspirational and thrilling “never say die” approach to nullifying the expected centre clearances in the midfield. Luke Stanford, Michael Johnston, Jack Dimery, Damien Bowles and Shane Ryan backed these guys up all day.

Jon Vlatko came into the side after missing the second semi-final, and the captain immediately placed his stamp on the game by winning a multitude of possessions around the ground. At full-back, Ben Bourke shut down key Bulldog Brad Abbott, restricting him to just the one goal, and once again the Eagles were miserly in defence where Rowan Bilkey, Kristian Pearson, Ben Physick, Mark Maher and Mark Skuse upheld their imposing reputation.

Everyone contributed to an outstanding victory. Michael Sankey played his last game, announcing his retirement at the post-match function. Aaron Byerlee showed the way at centre half-forward, Spiteri kicked three, Ben Rogers and Ryan Smyth were as elusive as ever. Smyth has also announced that the grand final was his last game for the Eagles before transferring to Adelaide.

For the next 12 months the elusive and prized AFL Premiership Cup will reside in the Hills. They are not won easily and the club is pleased to have received council permission to fly the premiership flag from council chambers to share it with the community from October 26.

Thereafter it will reside permanently at Bruce Purser Reserve.

Scores
East Coast 4.3 11.3 18.7 22.12 (144)
UNSW-ES 2.3 5.6 10.8 13.12 (90)

East Coast Eagles
Goal kickers: G. Seebeck 10, D. Spiteri 3, A. Byerlee 2, R. Fitton, B. Physick, B. Ure, B. Rogers, G. Garner, L. Stanford, R. Smyth
Best players: G. Seebeck, J. Vlatko, B. Bourke, L. Stanford, B. Ure, D. Spiteri

UNSW/ES
Goal kickers: L. Lavery 2, B. Abbott, P. Kefalas, J. Bradfield, E. Shaw, T. Luff, R. Underwood, S. Pech, A. Heffernan, M. O'Regan, M. Beardsley, B. Woods
Best players: A. Heffernan, B. Sutton, A. Henderson, D. Ward, R. Jones, T. Luff

In the earlier division one grand final, East Coast went down fighting to a superior UTS outfit.