Glenorchy playing-coach David Newett said there was nothing better than dismantling its long-time foe. They held the Roos goalless in the first and last quarters and to just four for the day in the 68-point smacking in front of 7091 fans.
The 14.22 (106) to 4.14 (38) win was Glenorchy's first Southern Premier League flag and its first since the 1999 Statewide League premiership.
``I have got to say yes, beating Clarence does make it sweeter,'' Newett said.
``A lot of the passion comes from the supporters, when they know we are playing Clarence they get around us and build it up and build it up.
``To beat your arch-rival, you have got to take that.''
His three years in charge have not always been easy, with tough decisions made early to change the culture at KGV, including cutting some regular senior players and even this year dropping established senior members for breaches of team discipline.
But the hard decisions brought steady improvement, going from fourth in 2005, runners-up to Clarence last year and now premiers.
``When we came in, we had a massive change-over in the first year,'' he said.
``Last year was a building phase and this year was our performance to end it.
``We didn't get ahead of ourselves last year, we weren't good enough and we knew that and knew we had to build and keep refining.
``We pumped a lot of games into young players last year and got the squad to a point where they could handle finals footy and they proved that today.''
The young Magpies' defensive pressure was outstanding, making Clarence look like blind butchers the way it hacked at the ball.
Although Glenorchy's delivery was not always precise, it looked laser-guided compared to that of the tired Roos.
The ferocious attack on the Roos' ball winners was set by Shane Piuselli and Jesse Crouch, whose repeated bone-crunching tackles caused many Clarence turnovers and wide, scrappy forward 50 entries.
Mark Corbett did an outstanding job tagging Clarence's best onballer, former Devils midfielder Ben Setchell, keeping him to under 10 possessions.
Even Clarence coach Nick Davey could not help but praise the opposition's defensive skills.
``Their pressure was fantastic. They got more numbers around the footy and that is what wins games of football here [at North Hobart],'' Davey said.
``We were made to look second rate at times.''
The times Clarence did bring the ball forward, Glenorchy's defence was simply impenetrable.
Magpies captain Brad Curran was a deserved best on ground medallist for his blanketing of the league's leading goal-kicker Mitch Williamson.
The few times Clarence did get shots on goal, they were from the boundary resulting in many behinds.
After being held goalless in the first term, Clarence lifted in the second mainly through ruckman Jeremy Sharpen and young onballer Jackson O'Brien.
The Roos crept to within a goal, before the Pies' young star forward Aaron Cornelius took a strong contested goal square mark to steady.
This was followed up by perhaps the goal of the day, Piuselli swooping on a contested ball, breaking two tackles and kicking a left foot major to stretch the lead to 19.
Clarence swung the changes at half-time, but a gruelling campaign caught up with Davey's charges, with the coach saying the opposition was too fit, too professional and too well-drilled -- all attributes normally associated with the Roos.
``I don't know if it is a premiership hangover but we had a lot of blokes that probably didn't do the full pre-season that you need and probably didn't work as hard throughout the year,'' he said.
The third term saw Glenorchy have the better again, stretching its lead to 27 points before Clarence's resolve broke in the final term.
Forward Chris Glenn, who had booted five points straight, kicked three last-term goals as Glenorchy rammed on 6.6 to 0.1 for the celebrations to begin.

Source: The Mercury