Brigades go through to Great Northern Football League grand final with 50-point win against Northampton

Brigades stayed true to the script on Saturday, beating Northampton by 50 points in the Great Northern Football League second semifinal, earning direct entry to the grand final and leaving the Rams to ring in the changes ahead of their second-chance preliminary final next weekend.

Brigades ran out eight-goal winners, scoring 12.9 (81) to the Rams’ 4.7 (31) as Ben O’Brien got three for the Hawks, while Ethan Paholski, Kaiden Dann and Dale Williamson each got two.

Nathaniel Mourambine kicked three of Northampton’s goals and Harrison Pluschke got the fourth, with Flynn Dillion their best.

Brigades’ Jesse Casselton was voted best player, while Jayden Schofield received the league medal for best on the day.

Brigades head coach Cory Foot said the result reflected the side’s ability to carry out things they had practised on the training track.

“I could not be happier with how we kept our structure and stuck to our game plan,” he said.

“I’m over the moon.”

Rams president Damian Harris said the way ahead was clear for his side.

“(I’m) gutted at conceding so many goals,” he said.

“Decisions just didn’t go our way, which can be the nature of things sometimes. (The team will) pick themselves up.”

Northampton attracted their usual raucous support, which kept the tempo up at a packed WA Country Builders Stadium in Wonthella until the final siren.

Mourambine kicked the scoring off for the Rams, with good support play from Kingsley Smith out of the centre. Paholski got the Hawks’ first score of the day with a well-crafted goal at an awkward angle from the boundary line.

Brigades took the lead through some clever play by Kayden Dann.

Williamson, Brigades’ top scorer, had a relatively quiet first quarter but the Hawks went in three points ahead at the break.

Brigades kept their goal scoring ticking over in the second quarter, adding three majors and restricting the Rams to two points.

Northampton came out firing in the third quarter, with Mourambine showing great link play, but it wasn’t to be.

Northampton now face Railways next Sunday after the Blues beat Rovers 18.6 (114) to 9.13 (67) on Sunday in the first semifinal.