Dunbar Over45s look forward to even the score with powerhouse Pagewood in 2020

The 2019 Season saw the O45 Championship squad once again miss out narrowly on glory to perennial powerhouse Pagewood Botany.

With the squad once again playing the most attractive football in the league, the Championship race was decided on a cold Thursday evening at Jellicoe Park, with a super physical Pagewood team edging the one and only clash between the two title contenders.

With neither side dropping any further points in the remaining League games, a repeat of the 2018 Grand Final clash saw another close game between the two sides settled in the cruelest way, Pagewood winning a penalty shoot-out 4-3 after the sides finished level at 3-3 in normal playing time.

Whilst it would be more than fair to say that Dunbar was the better side on the day, the end result was scant reward for the incredible effort Manager David Mills put in throughout the 2019 Season.

Andrew McGaffney again scored in excess of 30 goals — picking-up up yet another Players’ Player of the Year Award — and the super consistent and evergreen Graham White produced a string of outstanding performances to collect the Coach’s Player of the Year Award.

Training for the 2020 Season is already underway, and with skipper Matt Wiggins stepping up to assume coaching duties next season, the outlook is very positive.

Wiggins has attracted a number of very strong new faces to the Parade Grounds thus far, and all signs point towards the squad being of even higher quality than in 2019.

Both Dunbar Over45 teams failed to get the better of Pagewood in 2019, but 2020 promises to be a different story.

With ESFA League Champions Pagewood making it to the semi-finals of the NSW Champion of Champions in 2019, a firm belief exists within the squad that a push for silverware is well within our grasp.

The goal for 2020 is a lofty, but simple, one — win the League and push hard in the Champion of Champions competition.