Country championships: South West colts coach Brett Maguire reflects positively despite loss in final

South West colts coach Brett Maguire believes his side enjoyed a positive country championships despite losing the championships final to Peel. After going 3-1 through the pool stage across Thursday and Friday, the South West were on the wrong end of a decider at Pinjarra’s Sir Ross McLarty Oval which could have gone either way, with a clutch late goal from Peel’s Jett Ward stealing a three-point win for the Cavaliers. Maguire said his side was disappointed but had learnt a number of invaluable lessons over the course of the championships. “That’s what I’ve learnt over the years. I think as a coach, you want to have success, but it’s not the number one,” he said. “I think the number one is to get exposure to this. I said to them after, to come back after the Regional (Districts) game, it says that there’s character in these lads. “From a coaching point of view, as long as you know your group’s given its best shot, you can’t ask for much more than that.” The final was an enthralling battle right until the final siren, with Peel hitting the front in the final two minutes of the game courtesy of Ward’s brilliant finish when he found the major opening from near the intersection of the 50-metre arc and boundary line. Maguire said the game could have gone either way but some big moments went the way of the Cavaliers. “I’d been saying to them (for the championships), it will get down to the last kick,” he said. “It got down to pretty much the last kick, we were in front with a minute 30 (seconds) to go and that bloke has a kick and kicks a nice goal. “There’s not much more you can do about that, that’s footy.” Playing in the final game of the pool stage immediately before the final, the South West suffered a shock 28-point loss to Regional Districts, who had won only one game for the championships. Maguire said the result reflected the closeness of the competition. “I think we maybe got a little bit too smart for ourselves,” he said. “I think the group knew they were going to be in the next one, so they just went in a fraction off. “The other side were up to the challenge, Regional were wanting to go out with a bang and that’s what they did.”