Western United are the A-League Men champions after just three seasons in the competition, taking down Melbourne City 2-0 in the grand final.
City was bidding to add the championship to a Premiers Plate for the second straight season, but United denied their historic bid and made it two years in a row that expansion clubs have won the grand final.
The title, which United won from third place, marks Socceroos legend John Aloisi's first silverware as a coach.
United took a gamble on Aloisi, who had not coached since 2018 after a rough end to his time at Brisbane Roar and a brutal first job at Melbourne Heart.
It paid off in spades as they became the second team after Melbourne Victory in 2018 to win from outside the top two, despite being without Alessandro Diamanti, Rene Khrin and Nikolai Topor-Stanley.
United made more of their own history in the process, breaking an A-League Men record for the fastest goal in a grand final, coming just 100 seconds after the opening whistle in front of 22,495 fans at AAMI Park.
Ben Garuccio ripped in a ball towards the pack from a right corner, and Aleksandar Prijović flew for the ball alongside teammate Léo Lacroix.
But the ball found the head of City defender Nuno Reis, who deflected it into his own goal.
City came back from a 1-0 deficit to win the 2021 grand final against Sydney FC, but not this time.
Already with the advantage of an unlikely second-minute own goal, there was more luck involved in Western's second goal on the half-hour mark.
Connor Pain's strike from outside the box deflected off a City defender and back into Pain, with the tricochet travelling forward into the path of Prijović, who poked home.
The linesperson called Prijović offside on the field, but VAR found the Serbian onside and the goal was awarded.
Suddenly down 2-0, the defending champions kept pressuring, but could not find a way past the United defence and veteran goalkeeper Jamie Young.
One of City's best chances of the game went begging when Curtis Good hit the crossbar with a header after a 48th-minute free-kick was expertly curled onto the edge of the six-yard box.
It was one of the few times that a ball forward from the men in blue found its mark, but another came on the hour.
The ball found Mat Leckie streaming forward and he poked a touch past Young, but the Socceroo tumbled as he passed the keeper and when he regained his feet, the United defenders deflected his attempt.
City kept pressing, but could not get the ball to Jamie Maclaren and their other strike weapons, with Young repelling everything that came his way.
Prijović won the Joe Marston Medal as United's focal point, while central defenders Lacroix and Tomoki Imai blanketed Maclaren.
Connor Pain was also superb while captain Josh Risdon pushed through an early hip injury to play out the game, despite having only recently overcome an ankle problem.
ABC/AAP
