BEING unbeaten before a grand final can come with pressure, but the Octopuses men ensured nerves wouldn't get the best of them after a blistering start set up a 17-11 win over Dolphins in Saturday's decider at Oasis Aquatic Centre.
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On a memorable day for the club where the women also proved too good for Dolphins 6-3, the Octopuses men skipped to a 5-1 lead after the first quarter and held on from there in a high-scoring encounter.
It was a sweet moment for the team after they were beaten by Dolphins in a penalty shootout in 2019, before dealing with the anticlimax of being named winners as minor premiers last year when COVID forced the grand finals to be scrapped.
It capped a stellar year for coach Rex Gallaher, who was also named the competition's best and fairest ahead of teammate Sebastian Brown, as well as top goalscorer.
"A lot of the young boys stepped up. (Player of the match) Isaac Mooney played out of his skin and Chris Mumme really got us on the front foot as well," Gallaher said.
I didn't expect it to be that high scoring but we were pretty confident going into it. Isaac plays on the winger, he's very fast up and down the pool and he just played his role perfectly.
"We went out to a 5-1 first quarter lead which is exactly what we wanted to do. From after the first quarter it was a pretty even match.
"I thought if we got out to an early lead we had the firepower to be able to hold on. A lot of our guys haven't played in a first grade grand final so it (fast start) gave us that confidence.
"Hopefully we can put a few together. Dolphins played really well, especially Shaun Bennett towards the end of the game and gave them a bit of hope."
Grand final victory was a long-awaited goal for the Octopuses women.
They lost four straight grand finals to the Raiders before they were given last year's title as minor premiers.
Lauren Nugent was judged the player of the final, sister Claudia claimed the top goal scorer award and teammate Sharni Salau won the best and fairest award by six votes from Dolphin Emily Gralton.
Other results saw Dolphins edge Octopuses 6-5 in men's second grade, Octopuses won 8-7 over Dolphins after penalties in men's third grade and Dolphins beat Octopuses after penalties 7-6 in women's second grade.
Wednesday's junior grand finals saw TMAG Projects Octopuses defeat The Brew Octopuses 11-10 after penalties in under-14s, while Octopuses accounted for Dolphins 10-5 in under-16s.
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