Mt Barker and Roos claim 2021 Southern Districts Junior Football Association flags

Roos completed a remarkable finals campaign with a thrilling four-point victory over Saints to claim the Southern Districts Junior Football under-14 premiership at Retravision Stadium on Saturday morning. Finishing the regular season in fourth spot, the Roos won their elimination and preliminary finals to progress to the decider and upset the minor premiers in a brilliant grand final. Three first-half goals guided Roos to a hard-fought 4.9 (33) to 4.5 (29) premiership triumph. The Saints kicked the only goal of the first term through Tom Dente-Bright and led by nine points at the first change after keeping the Roos scoreless. However, the Roos stormed back into the contest in the second term booting three unanswered goals to take a 13-point lead into the main break. Merlin Bew pulled the margin back to one point early in the second term before Clay Harrington put Roos up and then Oliver Pass took a strong mark to push their advantage beyond two goals. Robbie Farmer produced a terrific snap in the third stanza to bring the deficit back to a goal and then Dente-Bright was awarded a free kick and converted his second to level scores. In a tense final term Luke Pickering put Saints back in front with 13 minutes left in the game after slotting a goal on the run. However, Valentino Armugam gathered the ball and kicked a long-range goal to put Roos back up by one point with 10 minutes left. Both teams tried desperately to get on top but the Roos hung on in a thrilling final few minutes. Pass was terrific in the win, booting a goal and collecting plenty of the footy to be named best on ground. Ruckman Hunter Porteous was outstanding in the victory along with Bew and Armugam. The Saints were best served by Jesse Owens, Dylan Bennett, Dente-Bright and Riley Crowd but they fell short after losing only two games prior to the decider. Earlier in the day, Mt Barker completed a near-perfect season when they claimed the under-12 premiership over Swans. The Bulls went through the season losing only one game, while the Swans finished in second spot. A powerful four-quarter performance from the Bulls ensured they finished comfortable 32-point winners. The Bulls led by two points after each team kicked one goal in the first term but three unanswered goals in the second term helped them push the margin to 25 by half-time. Swans hit back with the only two goals of the third as the margin was trimmed to 13 points but three unanswered goals in the final term sealed the 7.8 (50) to 3.0 (18) triumph. Lucas Baker was best on ground.