Visualising how grand final day will pan out, no one ever imagines the emptiness of defeat.

Thought processes are always positive, thinking about the spoils of victory. Coaches and players will play through their mind’s eye the mechanics of achieving success, rolling through the process over and over.

They think about the methods and execution of the game plan. In this instance, the things that carried the O’Rourke Realty A-Grade team to last Saturday’s grand final and nine wins from 10 games.

But a couple of hours after the first bounce, it was a whole different array of emotions that the North Beach players, coaches and members had to deal with, having lost to Scarborough by 27 points – 9.4 (58) 4.7 (31).

Nothing really fell into place on a wet and boggy Steel Blue Oval, with Scarborough winning the toss and kicking with the breeze. They established an early advantage and never surrendered control.

The Beach tried to work their way back into the match and were still only a couple of goals down in the third quarter and the balance of play had swung.

But Scarborough rattled on four goals at the back end of the quarter to establish a game-breaking advantage.

Ruckman Kyle Cranley and Steve Mansfield did all they could to initiate some midfield control, forward James Garcia was the most lively and threatening of the Beach forwards while Luke Symonds, Dan Leishman and Chris Bottechia were strong in defence.

Details
O’Rourke Realty A-Grade
Grand Final
Scarborough       3.2          5.3          9.3          9.4          58
North Beach       1.2          3.3          4.5          4.7          31
Goals – Scarborough: Baker, Vallelonga 2; Sheehan, Ashman, Robilliard, Reddell, McPhee. North Beach: Lamont, Garcia, Dwyer, Leishman.
Best – Scarborough: Vellelonga, Ashman, Re, Baker, Robilliard, McPhee. North Beach: Cranley, Mansfield, Symonds, Garcia, Leishman, Bottechia.