Veteran defender Stewart White moved into Klemm’s role at centre half back and kept Ben Britton scoreless but Angaston could not stop the flood of scorers who put their hand up when it counted.

Tanunda’s star studded back six clamped down in the second half to repeatedly deny Angaston opportunities to score after they were overshadowed in the first half when Panther forward Brenton Bascombe (two goals) had four different opponents.

Ryan Bignell was enlisted to shut down Angaston’s prime mover Craig Harvey after quarter time and did a good job but crucially picked up a ton of possessions himself along with Tom Schiller who showed his class.

Luke Wells controlled the rucks for the Pies and even pushed forward to kick a rare goal.

‘Billy’ (Wells) was presented with the Hurn Medal as best on ground by Shannon Hurn and proved without a doubt he is the best big man in the league.

“Our first half wasn’t what we wanted, we were missing targets but that was also due to Angaston’s pressure,” Tanunda coach Steve Lubcke said.

“They were very good but in the third term we played on our terms and turned the momentum back in our favour.

“Full credit to Angaston, they were a great opponent but it was our year. We were aiming for back to back and went out and got the job done”.

The contest between Mal Greenwood and Angaston’s Greg Bain was a cracker and both featured highly in their team’s respective best player lists.

The final term started with a 29 point lead for the Pies but Angaston refused to go gently and attacked hard, eventually outscoring Tanunda 4.3 (27) to 2.2 (14) to win three quarters yet lose the game.

Angaston coach Craig Hadden expressed his pride for what his team achieved during the year.

“No one expected us to make it this far,” Hadden said.

“This is a pretty special group that I believe can get better in the next few years. They were a pleasure to coach.”