Narrogin Hawks soar to C-grade premiership, Williams win reserves thriller and Katanning claim five in a row

Narrogin Hawks bounced back from last year’s grand final heartache to secure premiership glory with a 15-point win over Katanning Wanderers in the Upper Great Southern Football League C-grade grand final on Sunday. The Hawks went down in last season’s decider but dug deep to secure their first premiership since 2018. After losing the second semifinal to the Wanderers, the Hawks won their preliminary final clash to set up a rematch with the Wanderers and proved too strong, winning 7.12 (54) to 5.9 (39). The Hawks led by nine points at the first change, and that was narrowly reduced to eight at the main break. Three unanswered goals in the third stanza pushed the Hawks’ buffer to 30 points, and despite the Wanderers booting three goals to one in the final term the Hawks hung on. Hawks’ Tom Kilpatrick was named best on ground, while Michael Bradford (two goals) Edward Graham, Max Chivell, Dieago Abraham and Tyler Rowe were also impressive in the win. The Wanderers were best served by Abdul Pickett, Austin Morrow, Caleb Quartermaine, Braydon Keley and Toby Perrin. In the D-grade the Hawks weren’t able to replicate the same success as they went down by 32 points to the Wanderers. The Hawks got back into the game in the second term to reduce a 21-point quarter-time margin to 10 at the main break but four goals to one in the second half sealed the 7.11 (53) to 3.3 (21) win for the Wanderers. Craig Taylor was named best on ground in the win. Zoe Keley, Harry Harris, Brayden D'Aprile and Liam Moulden were outstanding for the winners and Rhys Holzknecht kicked three goals as the Wanderers claimed their fifth premiership in a row. Tyran Lanciano finished with two majors for Hawks who were best served by Logan Batt, Chayse Pickett and Cody Heywood. A goal in the last minute from Ryan Pearce guided Williams to an upset four-point victory over Brookton-Pingelly in the reserves decider. Pearce bagged five goals in the thrilling 10.12 (72) to 11.2 (68) victory as the Cats completed the perfect finals series, finishing third before they won the elimination final and preliminary final, and then prevailed over the Panthers in the decider. Cats’ Matthew Gillett was named best on ground.