Country Championships: Avon and South West to again face off in division one final after gripping final day

Defending champions Avon and the last year’s beaten finalists the South West will again face off for the cherished division one title at the Nutrien Ag Solutions Country Football Championships. The two sides secured grand final berths in the top division after a pulsating last day of qualifying games at Fremantle Community Bank Oval on Saturday. Avon finished Friday and Saturday’s games on top of the table with a 3-1 win-loss record, while the South West had the best percentage of three sides which finished 2-2 in their pool games, edging out Peel and Goldfields. A tantalising preview into Sunday’s decider was given when the two teams played out a thriller on Saturday, with Avon coming late to grab a 5.6 (36) to 4.3 (27) win. The lead changed hands six times in a thrilling contest, with Blake Offer finishing after a clever crumb to give the South West the lead halfway through the second half. But after missing a chance to take the ascendancy back for his side moments later, Avon player-coach Tom Lee made no mistake with his second opportunity, before Jarred Patmore crumbed and converted on the goal-line to make sure of the win moments before the siren. But the reigning champions did not have the day all their own way, suffering a one-point loss to Peel in the day’s opening contest. After a see-sawing affair, Avon’s Jarred Patmore had the chance to win the game for his side with the final kick of the contest, but could not make the distance of more than 50m as Peel hung on, 4.4 (28) to 4.3 (27). The South West went a long way towards securing their spot in the final with a 4.12 (36) to 2.2 (14) win over Goldfields in their first game of day two. Power forward Jordan Strahan — who transferred away from the SWFL’s Harvey Bulls and back to his GFL team Mines Rovers on deadline day — struck first for Goldfields and the inaccurate South West could then only respond with eight straight behinds, finally getting their first goal through Mitch Tenardi moments before the half-time siren. Weight of numbers eventually began to tell for the winners, with Cooper Clarke-Dehring shaking off a four-behind first half by kicking the two second-half sealers. Peel’s hopes of featuring in the final suffered a big blow when they were on the wrong end of Upper Great Southern’s first win of the carnival, going down in a tense finish 3.4 (22) to 3.3 (21). A late goal from Cade Bolton proved the winner for the Rams, who will be relegated back to division two after finishing the pool stage on the bottom of the ladder. In the last game of the day, Goldfields closed out their carnival in winning fashion after scoring a win over Upper Great Southern. Needing a huge win to have any hope of breaking into the top two, Goldfields looked like they could do the unthinkable when they started with three goals in the game’s first five minutes, but the task proved too large after Upper Great Southern began to get a foothold in the contest. Brett Blair was terrific with three goals as Goldfields won by 26 points. The division one decider will be played at Sullivan Logistics Stadium in Leederville on Sunday starting at 1.30pm.