2001 Grand Final
Clapham Common
Saturday 22 September 2001
Men's Premiership
North London Lions 0.3 0.6 4.7 10.7 (67)
Wimbledon Hawks 3.1 4.5 4.8 6.9 (45)
North London staged a stunning comeback to secure the Club's first ever Premiership title in the 12-year history of the British Australian Rules Football League.
The Hawks, chasing their 5th title, kept the Lions goalless for the first half and led by 29 to 6. However, after the half-time break, the Lions added 10 goals to 2 to turn a 23-point deficit into a 22-point victory.
The Hawks were on fire from the opening bounce and had 3 goals on the scoreboard, with Nigel Webb booting 2, whilst most of the 1,500 crowd were settling into their vantage points around the ground. The game soon settled down into a tough battle between the two defences with the Hawks managing to add one more goal before the long break.
The Lions came out in the third quarter looking like a new team. It was still some 10 minutes before the Lions scored their first goal of the day, but by three quarter-time they had scored 4 goals to nil to draw within 1 point of the Hawks.
But the Hawks were not about to surrender the game that easily as they went about scoring the opening goal of the last quarter to go out to a 7-point lead. In what turned out to be a reversal of the semi-final two weeks ago where the Hawks ran over the top of the Lions, the Lions hit the front for the first time in the game at the 13-minute mark as local London-born and bred winger Andrew Norton gathered the loose ball at centre half forward and made no mistake from 30 yards out. From this point on the momentum seemed to be with the Lions, despite the Hawks pulling one goal back to come within 4 points before the Lions kicked away again.
Shane Jenkins and Glenn Wilkins were key players for North London all day whilst Jason Sheather and Nigel Webb, who walked away with the Keith Burley medal for best on ground in the Grand Final, were amongst the best for the Hawks. The best EC player on the ground, as voted by the National selectors, was Terry Lovekin from North London.
Lions Premiership Squad: Alessandro Attanasio, Jason Barling, Adam Bergin, Tim Dillon, Simon Durkan, Stuart Fletcher, Rob Gaunt, Shane Jenkins, Michael Johnston, Terry Lovekin, Nathan Lovell, Chad Mainstone, Craig McBrien, Drostan McDonald, Clyde Murray, Craig Myles, Andrew Norton, Philip Norton, Danny Pearce, Denis Radetic, Rohan Stevenson, Josh Tate, Jeremy Waters, Corey Weekes, Miles Westbrook (Captain), Glenn Wilkins.
