For the first time in over a decade, a Benalla Saints under-18 side has stood on the doorstep of a grand final.
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On Sunday, that remarkable journey came to an end in a hard-fought preliminary final against the Shepparton Bears, but nothing about this season should be measured only in the final scoreline.
The Game
The Saints went down 5.1 (31) to Shepparton's 23.18 (156), but the margin tells only half the story. For a half of football, this was a genuine contest, two young sides going blow for blow, exactly the kind of physical, honest footy this Benalla side has built its identity on all year.
It was only in the second half that the class and depth of a strong Bears outfit began to tell, as Shepparton found another gear the Saints simply couldn't match on the day.
Goals for Benalla came from Cooper Binion, Connor Breheny, Josh Hart, Ryder Robertson and Kobi Thwaites, a spread across the ground that summed up a team effort rather than any one individual carrying the load.
Best on ground for the Saints were Kobi Thwaites, Josh Hart, Harrison Skelton, Connor Breheny and Josh Mathieson, five players who left everything out there in what was, for many of them, the last game they'll ever play in the red, white and black at under-18 level.
A Season to Be Proud Of
Finishing the home-and-away season in fifth spot with 10 wins and six losses, this Benalla group did something no Saints under-18 side had managed in 11 years - they turned a solid season into a finals campaign that went all the way to a preliminary final.
In a competition as tough as the Goulburn Valley League, that is no small feat, and it's a result built on months of hard training, tight bonds, and a willingness to fight for every contest.
The individual numbers speak to a side with scoring power right through the team:
• Ryder Robertson - 29 goals, the Saints' leading goalkicker for the season
• Connor Breheny - 21 goals
• Josh Hart and Xavier Wapling - 20 goals apiece
• Max Smyth - 19 goals
Multiple Saints players were recognised on the GVL Team of the Month throughout the year, and one Saint was named among the league's Top 45 Up and Comers - individual recognition that reflects just how much talent has come through this group, even as they played every week as a team first.
Just as importantly, four Saints under-18 players graduated to senior football this season, pulling on a senior jumper for the first time. That's the real measure of a strong junior program: not just wins and finals, but a pathway that keeps producing footballers ready for the next level.
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Benalla's Logan Hyland looks downfield. Photos: Rechelle Zammit. Photo by Rechelle ZammitImage 2 of 7
Benalla's Jackson Fry watches the ball onto his boot. Photo by Rechelle ZammitImage 3 of 7
Benalla's Ryder Robertson gives chase to Shepparton's Griffin Irvine. Photo by Rechelle ZammitImage 4 of 7
Benalla's Cooper Binion completes a chest mark. Photo by Rechelle ZammitImage 5 of 7
Benalla's Braedon Blackford and Shepparton's Ethan Saxon tussle for the ball. Photo by Rechelle ZammitImage 6 of 7
Shepparton's Archer Hueston and Benalla's Braedon Blackford do battle in the ruck. Photo by Rechelle ZammitImage 7 of 7
Benalla's Bryce Cooney and Shepparton's Hunter Howells tangle while competing for the loose ball. Photo by Rechelle ZammitA Team That Plays for Each Other
Talk to anyone who watched this group all year and they'll tell you the same thing: on paper, this was a young, undersized side that shouldn't have gone as deep as it did. But footy isn't played on paper. What this Benalla side lacked in size and experience, it made up for tenfold in heart.
This was a team-first group in every sense of the word. Week after week, it was the same story — players putting their bodies on the line for the bloke next to them, running that extra ten metres to lay a block, chasing down a contest they had no right to win, all because they were playing for their mates and not for themselves.
That "play for your mate" culture wasn't something that showed up occasionally - it was there in every single game, in the way they stuck together through the tough patches and celebrated together in the good ones. You could see it in the way they backed each other in after a missed shot on goal, and the way they lifted each other when the bigger, more physical sides tried to bully them off the ball.
That's the kind of culture you can't coach into a team overnight, and it's the kind of culture that turns a group of young footballers into a genuine team — the sort other clubs come to respect, even when the scoreboard doesn't always go their way. It's also exactly why this season, and this preliminary final, means so much more than the result. This group didn't just play good footy. They played for each other, every single week, and that's something no scoreline can take away from them.
Credit Where It's Due
None of this happens without the work of the coaching group behind the scenes. Jack Smyth, Peter Robertson and Adam Levy, along with Ethan Maney in their second year coaching the under-18s together, have built something at Benalla that goes well beyond X's and O's.
Under their guidance, this group has grown into footballers and young men who compete hard, support each other, and represent their club with real pride. The team-first, play-for-your-mate spirit that defined this season doesn't happen by accident. It's a direct reflection of the environment this coaching group has created, day in and day out at training and on game day.
Looking Ahead
A preliminary final loss stings, there's no getting around that. But this Benalla Saints under-18 group has given their club, their families and their community something to be genuinely proud of. They've reset the standard for what a Saints under-18 side can achieve, they've sent four of their own up into senior ranks, they've had one of their own named among the league's best young talent, and they've shown the next generation of Saints juniors exactly what's possible when you play for the bloke next to you.
Eleven years between finals appearances at this level. This group made sure it was worth the wait - not just for what they achieved, but for how they achieved it, together.