Parkside has experienced grand final heartbreak for a second year running in the WRFL division 3.
The Magpies came up short on the biggest stage in a 33-point loss to new side Newport Power at Wootten Road Reserve on Saturday.
Magpies coach Nick Condos was disappointed with the outcome, but put it all into perspective when looking back two years when the club nearly folded.
“To come back from that and play in two grand finals is fantastic,” Condos told Star Weekly. “You win some, you lose some – today we lost and that’s OK. We’re disappointed in losing, but we’ll get back on the bike again and give it another crack. I’m really excited to start again for next year.”
Parkside went down to 17 men for 15 minutes following a yellow card to Cal Meagher.
Officials from both clubs were surprised to see Meagher sent off.
“What do you say?” Condos said.
“It’s hard enough with 18 players on the ground let alone 17.
“The umpire reckons one of our blokes put his face in another bloke’s face.
“I couldn’t see it and I didn’t know what it was for until he came over.”
Condos was not using the incident as an excuse.
He pointed to Parkside’s inefficiency in attack as the main difference between the sides.
“If you look at the scoring shots, there’s not that much difference,” he said. “We had plenty of entries and just couldn’t fire a shot.
“The scoreboard pressure is the best pressure you can put on anybody … if you don’t kick goals, you don’t win.
“We did a lot of things right, but we did a lot of things wrong, too.
“Whoever makes the least amount of mistakes usually wins the game.”
