Warrnambool and District Football Umpires Association members selected for senior Hampden league grand final

Joining Walker in earning the call up for Saturday's decider between Koroit and North Warrnambool Eagles is fellow Warrnambool and District Football Umpires Association field umpire Jamie Lake. Meanwhile boundary umpires Campbell Pedler, 15, Ethan Best, 17, and Dylan Denaro, 14, as well as goal umpire Lochie Carter, 16 will all make senior grand final debuts for WDFUA.

Walker said the atmosphere of a grand final makes for an "incredibly enjoyable day".

"You go to a home-and-away game and you might have 300-400 people and they're in their cars," he said. "You walk out on grand final day and it's packed. Every time there is a decision made you've got a huge crowd."

Walker said umpiring alongside Lake over the years helped make games like Saturday easier.

"It's comfortable, I know what to expect," he said. "It makes it easy... where you might not hear your partner or what's going on. You know instinctively he'll be the one running through or backing you up."

Lake, appearing in his eighth Hampden grand final, said the call-up was a culmination of the year's work. The longtime umpire, who has 36 years experience, is hopeful of a similar game to the 2019 decider he refereed between the Saints and Eagles.

"That was a three-pointer," he said. "If it's as good as that it will be sensational."

Lining up with Lake is stepson Campbell, who has been umpiring for at least four years.

Best, also in his fourth season umpiring, said he was looking forward to seeing a "clash of the titans" when the Saints and Eagles go head-to-head. Meanwhile Denaro and Carter are in their second year's umpiring. Carter said he didn't expect to earn a grand final call-up so early but that a number of opportunities had helped him learn the craft.

"I've been dedicated to training... and been doing Hampden league mostly," he said. "That's helped pushed that further and doing V/Line cup (in Shepparton) in April and again next week."

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