Yarraville-Seddon’s young group came within a whisker of securing a grand final appearance on Saturday.
The Eagles led Caroline Springs in time on of the final quarter before conceding the last two goals of the preliminary final in an agonising seven-point defeat, 11.16 (82)-11.9 (75), which dashed their Western Football League division 1 flag dream.
But amid the gloom of a missed opportunity came reason to be bullish that success is on the horizon.
“We worked it out post-game that our average age was 19 and a half,” Yarraville-Seddon coach Brad Julier said.
“We believe we’ll get our time. We would have liked it to have been now, but there’s a hell of a lot to look forward to with that group.
“They’re really young and if they stick together their time will come. Hopefully there will be some sustained success there if we can keep them all together.
“There’s been some huge improvement getting games into them and getting them to play three finals. (But) it’s a long road to get back there again.”
The Eagles have established themselves as one of the leading clubs in the top flight and went one week further after a semi-final appearance last year.
Little separated the teams at each break before Caroline Springs kicked two goals to one in the last quarter to set up a grand final clash with Werribee Districts, who have qualified for their fourth consecutive decider.
Daniel Snell booted three goals in a best-afield performance for the losing side, while Akol Deng, Ethan Williamson, Josh Helliwell, West Barker and Finley Neylan also impressed.
“Pretty disappointing. We felt like we controlled a fair bit of the game except probably the last five minutes, so it was pretty flattening at the end of the game,” Julier said.
“We’ve had five years of improvement. It was another step forward playing in a prelim.
“Caroline Springs have lost prelims (in 2022 and 2024), Werribee Districts have had some pain.
“We knew we were against it but still thought we were good enough to get there.”
Julier has completed five years at the helm of the Eagles and is contracted for 2026.
He led them to three wins from 12 games in the COVID-impacted 2021 season, which was their first in their return to division 1.
Yarraville-Seddon won four games in 2022 and has contested finals the past three seasons.
Julier, a Port Melbourne Colts great who has also held coaching roles in the Victorian Football League, said the Eagles would look to add a key defender over summer.
“Retention is the key to start with,” Julier said.
“But probably a big key defender is the first one we’d sort of look for.
“We don’t want to go down the path of just bringing in some old guys just for the sake of it to fast-track what we’re doing.
“As disappointing as it is (losing a preliminary final), we’re on the right track and our time we’ll come, but we’ll definitely look to add something.”
