Torquay piled on seven last-quarter goals to grab the 2023 Premiership, leaving Drysdale in its wake in an enthralling BNFL Grand Final.
With only one point sepoarating the teams at the final break, the Tigers gathered their forces for a final term blitzkreig while holding the Hawks to just two majors, with Torquay running out 32-point victors to take home the flag.
Drysdale got the jump on the Tigers with three first quarter goals to one, before Torquay bounced back to outscore their opponents by 12 points in the second to head into the long break with a slim 3-point lead.
With Jake Hargreaves playing a key rold, the Hawks holding the ascendancy by a single point headed into what promised to be a mouth-watering final term.
Instead, Lucas Anderson and best-on-ground Nathan Mifsud took the match by the scruff of the neck, bagging six goals apiece to lead their side to its first premiership since 2017.
Hargreaves topped Drysdale’s goal-kicking with four.
Fittingly, the match provided a fairy tail end to the career of club legend Bed Raidme, who retires with two premierships and 270 games under his belt.
