Love satisfied after premiership triumph

Sidelined Stoneyford captain-coach Matthew Love says Saturday’s stunning grand final performance could inspire him to stick around next summer.

The Rattlesnakes pulled off a great escape in Saturday’s Division One decider against Alvie thanks to the efforts of a 60-year-old former president, Canadian import, and the Dustin Martin of Colac district cricket.

Love, supporting from the sidelines after he was suspended on the eve of finals, said his first premiership involvement at the club was just as sweet despite his own situation.

Stoneyford had won seven of the past eight grand finals when the Rattlesnakes lured Love to lead the club ahead of the 2021-22 campaign.

“Not making the finals last year and bowing out the season before, it’s made the club hungrier to get back on the big stage, and once Stoneyford get there, they’ve proven hard to beat,” Love said.

“It’s been hard watching on, but you’ve just got to play your role and my role was to be a strong supporter and give a lot of voice to the guys.

“I’m as happy as I would be if I was playing.”

A premiership in the starting 12 is the only thing missing for Love, a former Premier cricketer who has won a Bill Johnston Medal and is a multiple Team of the Year cricketer in his three seasons at Stoney.

The soon-to-be 45-year-old said he hadn’t decided on his future after Stoneyford’s grand final win over Alvie.

“Not at this stage,” he said.

“You take every season as it comes at my age, so we’ll wait and see.

“The hunger and love of the sport is still there, so we’ll see how we go.”

THE PARTNERSHIP

Kevin Boyd has been the heart and soul at the Pirron Yallock-based club for decades, but more so off the field in recent seasons.

He has watched on as his son Josh and others helped the club win seven premierships in eight seasons.

But Boyd was required to suit up to help keep Stoneyford under the points cap this season.

He had only made 26 runs entering the grand final, but the time had come for Boyd to step up when the club was staring down the barrel of a grand final loss on Sunday.

“It was 7-75 when Kev walks out and the way it looked, we thought we could scramble our way to 100 and once we got to that mark then it was to try and get to 120 and so on,” Love said.

“Kev was just doing his role. The experience he showed was immense, and he’s got a heart of gold.”

Boyd made 13 runs, but chewed up 65 balls, importantly being at the crease to allow Farhan Malik to give the Rattlesnakes a score to defend.

Malik, who has represented Canada on the international stage, produced the knock of his life at Stoneyford.

The bowling all-rounder made 73 runs, sharing an 84-run stand with Boyd to guide the Rattlesnakes to 9-172 from its 50 overs.

“It’s easy to forget how well Farhan played, but that’s worth a hundred in any game during the season,” Love said.

“He’s very technically correct the way he bats. He’s just got to get himself in.

“We know he can play well, we just needed to bat around him, and that’s what Kev did.”

DUSTY OF THE DYNASTY

Dustin Martin won Norm Smith Medals as the grand final best-on-ground in all three of Richmond’s recent AFL premierships.

Stoneyford now has eight premierships and in four of those flags, Jesse Williamson earned the medallion for the best performer in the decider.

It’s an incredible feat given the calibre of cricketers who have entered through the gates at Pirron Yallock over the past 10 years.

Among those are former England under-19 cricketer Savin Perera, ex-First Class cricketer George Edwards, another Canadian in Arslan Khan and a string of Bill Johnston Medallists like Farooq Qureshi, Joe and Levi Dare and Dale Boyd.

But Williamson, one of only two to play in all eight flags, proved one of the match-winners after taking five wickets to return his club to the top of the CDCA.

Love said the man known as Zinger was something else come finals.

“Zinger took the first five wickets, and it was just an unbelievable effort by him,” he said.

“He just stands up in big games.”