FOOTBALL
PARKSIDE has bullied its way to the Western Region Football League division 2 grand final.
The Magpies embarrassed finals chokers Albanvale Cobras by 67 points in a fizzer of a preliminary final at JK Grant Reserve in Altona on Sunday.
The encouraging opening 18 weeks of the season counted for nought for the Cobras.
They were like deer-in-the-headlights when push came to shove in the finals series.
It was a far cry from their blaze of glory opening to the finals when they beat Parkside by 20 points in the qualifying final only 15 days earlier.
Their finals campaign took an unexpected jolt with an 89-point loss to North Footscray in the semi-finals, but most believed it to be a minor blip on the radar.
The Magpies hit back in the penultimate game before the 'big one', leaving the Cobras out in the cold to wonder how their season disintegrated in the blink of an eye.
Magpies coach David Orchard will not spend a second thinking about the Cobras' woes.
The man who took over from Gary Turner in the middle of the season has a grand final to prepare for and he cannot wait.
"It was a little bit turbulent at the start," Orchard said.
"We came out and got beaten by Yarraville-Seddon that first week I took over and I tell you that was a wake-up call.
"Since then we've really banded well together.
"What we had on our side was I knew the boys and played footy with most of the boys."
The Magpies were on song from the first bounce.
They were led superbly by mobile ruckman Julian Storey.
"He is a ruckman that will chase, tackle, jump on the ball," Orchard said.
"His work ethic is second to none.
"He keeps going."
The Magpies might have been down by two points at quarter-time but they had an extra three scoring shots and the better of the play.
The opening term should have sounded alarm bells in the Cobras camp.
They could not have expected such a barrage of Magpies attack which came in the second term.
It was a blur of black and white as they piled on 10 goals and kept the Cobras scoreless in 30 minutes of play.
"The boys were right on their game," Orchard said.
The Magpies turned on the style in attack with hard-to-move forward Mo Khartabil snaring eight goals and jack-in-the-box half-forward Chris Thompson booting five in a stellar performance.
The foundation for victory was built on defence.
No one in the back half had a bigger influence than best-on-ground Drew Vincent.
Vincent has been dubbed a "future captain" of the club by his coach.
"His work ethic is unbelievable," Orchard said.
"He took charge of the backline."
The showstopper was Trent Tyrell with his rebound out of defensive 50.
Tyrell looms as a game breaker when he meets his former side in the grand final. "He's got an uncanny knack of finding space," Orchard said.
He says his side has the momentum to bring down North Footscray.
They also have the motivation to atone for last season's disappointment at the same phase last year when they lost to Deer Park in the grand final.
It promises to be one of the great grand finals.
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