It was a match that few thought Melbourne Victory would win. The historical records were too much in favour of Brisbane Roar. The paperwork was too much in their favour as well.

Boasting more Matildas than any other team, Brisbane had the pedigree to take the trophy and head home almost without a whistle.

Melbourne Victory on the other hand struggled to settle on the perfect team formation, recording some less than impressive results leading into the finals. Good football was played, but good results did not necessarily follow.

Now we have a new history.

Melbourne took to the field like they owned it. They pressed Brisbane, caused turnovers, shut them down and grabbed the Championship with hardly a whimper.

The first attempted blow from Melbourne was shut down fiercely when Nadine Angerer’s superb reactions defused a dangerous strike from Lisa De Vanna. Against any other goalkeeper, surely it would have been a goal.

That meant Victory would have to do better than monster shots. Something that they have struggled with all season, but not on this day.

Watching Jess Fishlock and De Vanna pair up was almost a match made in heaven. Fishlock measures the ball into space, De Vanna cuts across, shoots, scores.

It’s a repeat of what we’ve seen throughout the season, but this time it’s more exciting. 2500 times more exciting as almost everyone cheers. The Eureka Brigade chants and everyone is off their seats.

Not long afterwards, guest international Lauren Barnes burns a place in Victory fans hearts, as she seals the game with a mammoth left foot strike.

We love Barnes, we love Beattie, we love Fishy, we love them all.

But what now?

No sooner has the W-League Grand Final been played and won, and I am starting to miss it already. I feel it today, only a day after the event. Truth be told, I started feeling it yesterday too, not long after the match had ended.

The internationals are starting to pack up and head home. Their presence is always a year by year proposition.

Whilst the players enjoy their time here, they’re homesick, tired and have to back up with more football far from our sunburnt country.

Will they come back again? We can only hope.

For the moment, Victory says farewell to Katie Hoyle who had a beast of a season; Fishlock who has stolen our hearts with her magical skills and divine leadership; Jess Samuelsson who we wish had scored; and Lauren Barnes, who was here only briefly but definitely leaves us wanting more.

Brisbane will say auf wiedersehen to the brilliant Nadine Angerer, who seemed to have the perfect Aussie spirit and they also bid adieu to retiring teammate, Joanne Burgess.

Many of our homegrown stars head off into distant lands as well.

They will pack their bags and depart for leagues in the US, Europe and the UK, and we will sit here and patiently wait for them all to return, for an even bigger, even better W-League Season 7.

May the best team win. I’m off to watch the replay.

[fbalbum url= https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.727939577246768.1073741895.118568318183900]