One of the great eras of any team in the history of the Western Region Football League division 1 has come to an end.
Spotswood will not play in the grand final for the first time since 2006.
But the Woodsmen should be saluted for their ability to hold on to their status as one of the greatest teams to grace the football fields of the west.
They played in eight consecutive grand finals, winning four and losing four.
Their stranglehold over the competition had slowly been slipping on the back of three consecutive grand final losses.
And last week the Woodsmen were ousted from the premiership race in a 32-point semi-final loss to Hoppers Crossing at JK Grant Reserve on Sunday.
VIEW PICTURE GALLERY/SALES FROM THIS MATCH
They were served a dose of their own medicine.
The week prior, it was the Woodsmen who came out with all guns blazing in an elimination final win over Altona, but they could not replicate the effort against a stronger Warriors outfit.
The game was almost out of Spotswood’s reach by quarter-time as they trailed 34-0.
The deficit had stretched to 40 by half-time and 54 by three-quarter-time.
The Woodsmen, losing grand finalists of the past two seasons, never gave up and piled on five goals to one in the last term, but it was a margin too big even for this mighty outfit.
Lachlan Fairley was superb for Spotswood with five goals on a day when his team could manage only seven all up.
Nathan Dumbleton and Murray Boyd had big games for the Woodsmen to no avail.
The top-flight premiership race is down to three, with Deer Park awaiting the winner of the preliminary final between Hoppers Crossing and Werribee Districts at Avalon Airport Oval on Saturday.
In division 3, the grand final will be played between Parkside and Albanvale at Wootten Road Reserve on Saturday.
Albanvale, the minor premiers, advanced to the big one with a 72-point win over the Wyndham Suns in the prelim final on Sunday.
