The Old Paradians fought the good fight, but were unfortunately overrun in the final quarter of Sunday’s D2 Preliminary Final against West Brunswick at De La Salle’s Waverley Oval.

In what was a closely-contested affair, the green men worked overtime to earn a 14-point lead at the final change - only to be kept scoreless in the last quarter as Brunswick piled on 6.4 to emerge 26-point winners, 14.8 (92) to 10.6 (66).

Despite the obvious disappointment of missing out on promotion, the team, under its first year coach Ryan Smith, can look back on 2017 season with enormous pride in contesting finals when it opened with one win from its first five games and faced the very real prospect of relegation.

Ryan, recently re-appointed Senior Coach, was a galvanising influence on the players. Off-field, Dale McCann was equally influential in enlisting the financial support of a significant number of football club sponsors - all of them advocates of the game in its purest sense and the players who play it.

“A lot has been ticked off both on and off the field, and Parade College is to be commended in assisting the Old Paradians in this respect,” Dale said.

“For the first time in a long time the club has gained from that vital injection of youth, with our Under 19s players emerging and now impacting on senior games. This in turn has brought a great sense of optimism to the people proud to be involved with the Old Paradians as the football club approaches its 90^th year.”

Images:

Brothers in arms post-match, from left to right - Michael Boundy, Alex Asdagi, Chris Kandilakis, Luke Grech and James Kappos.

The Old Paradians contingent, Waverley Oval.