It was the first time the Breakers had been in a Shoalhaven first grade grand final and they did not disappoint, playing a classier game of football that gave their fans something to cheer about and quickly silenced the typically vocal Culburra supporters.

As the two teams ran onto the field it was evident that both had equally talented players, and the winner would be the team with the most grit, and who could handle the blustery conditions.

The first half started out strong for both teams.

The wind had caused havoc with third and reserve grade games and had picked up for the first grade contest.

It was so strong that players had trouble keeping the ball from the eastern sideline, with most of the action happening away from the spectators.

Corner kicks were difficult to place and goal kicks were going all over the field.

With both teams fighting hard and frustrations building, it was not long before a scuffle broke out between various players after Culburra’s Adam Douglas went down.

Two yellow cards were awarded and limping heavily, Douglas momentarily left the field to get checked out before returning.

Gerringong was slowly gaining more and more position, much to the credit of their strong middle and front line. 

Gerringong’s thorough back line was not giving Culburra’s star striker Corey Ryan much room to move.

A few minutes before the half time whistle, Gerringong’s Dave Tanevski, who started on the field in lieu of Jesse Fenn-Lavington, managed to gently push the ball to the back of the net.

Culburra goal keeper Scott Merivale had stepped away from his line to try and stop the cross, leaving an open goal for Tanevski to take advantage.

At the half time break, the hordes of Culburra supporters were trying desperately to fire up Culburra’s spirits.

The start of the second half saw both teams lift their game, however with Jesse Fenn-Lavington now taking the field, Gerringong’s offensive line were really giving Culburra’s fullbacks a hard time.

Twenty minutes in, Gerringong’s constant attack paid off when striker Ian Morris placed a strong kick to Gary Vian, who made no mistake in finding the back of the net.

With Culburra’s heads down, Gerringong attacked again, this time with Jesse Fenn-Lavington scoring two minutes later, much to the delight of his many supporters.

Culburra struggled to regain their composure as Gerringong continued to dominate.

Twenty minutes later, Vian  made use of his younger teammate, crossing he ball to Fenn-Lavington, who took his second goal for the day with  a well-placed kick past Merivale.

Unfortunately for Culburra, their fighting spirit was squashed with the realisation that 4-nil was too much to make up in the dying minutes, although they never gave up.

Gerringong coach Craig Farquhar was ecstatic at the team’s win.

“I thought we would win three or four nil.  I didn’t want to say that to anyone else before the game, but all my predictions came true,” he beamed.

Farquhar said he stuck to his guns when preparing his team for the Culburra game.

“We did not change anything at all. Basically our game plan was to stick to our game plan and not worry about Culburra,” he said.

“We knew if we could play our game well, we would win the title.”

Farquhar said his team were lucky to have a bit of experience in strong winds, so they knew how to best play the game.

“We were lucky to have had similar conditions against Bomaderry when we defeated them in the major semi-final. So that helped us decide what to do when we were faced with the same conditions today,” he said.

Farquar said that benching Fenn-Lavington in the first half was a strategic move.

“That was a big decision for me to start Jesse off the bench. He has scored goals in the last three games but I started Dave Tanevski instead, who I thought would do the job in the first half. And that’s how it worked out, the plan of Tanevski in the first half and Fenn-Lavington in the second worked perfectly for us today,” he said.