SIX years ago Sandhurst planted the seeds that on Saturday has the chance to bear premiership fruit.

Following a bitterly disappointing straight-sets finals exit in 2007 when they lost to Eaglehawk and South Bendigo by a combined 164 points, the Dragons started a rebuild from scratch in 2008.

Only six of the players who had played in the Dragons’ final game of 2007 were in the team for their first game of 2008 under new coach Keiran Nihill against Golden Square.

Week after week the Dragons put out a team made up primarily of kids, with a smattering of experience through Nihill, Malcolm Borchard, Sam McGee, and to a lesser extent, new captain Michael Cornish.

What Sandhurst endured that year was a season unlike any other in the club’s proud history.

Just one win over Kyneton, 15 losses by an average of 98 points and narrowly avoiding what would have been the club’s first wooden spoon by only 0.6 per cent.

The season included the biggest loss in the club’s history when the Dragons were pummelled by 211 points by South Bendigo in round six.

But six years on, that season was the platform that provided the springboard into the Dragons’ BFL grand final appearance on Saturday against Strathfieldsaye.

“We obviously did it tough that year, but there wasn’t any pressure on the club,” Nihill recalled on Friday.

“We knew exactly where we were at and my main focus was just to keep the boys happy and ensuring they enjoyed their footy.

“The culmination of that will, hopefully, be some of those boys who were part of 2008 becoming premiership players on Saturday.”

While the list has continued to evolve over the past six years, Matt Thornton, Tom Hartney, under-18 player Nick Stagg and Jarrod Bateson were all part of the 2008 group who have helped the Dragons this year in their run to the grand final.

“I can still remember a game that year against Kangaroo Flat when we led for most of the day and got run over in the last quarter,” Nihill said.

“Sam McGee was playing at centre half-back and Matt Thornton was playing centre half-forward and there were a lot of supporters getting stuck into me and the selectors about why we didn’t swing Speccy (McGee) forward to win the game.

“But I remember saying that you guys knocking us now will be the same ones in five years time saying what a star Matt Thornton is.

“They were the decisions we were making back then for the future of the footy club.

“Not all of them worked, but to see the way Matt Thornton has gone on with his footy has been fantastic.”

Thornton continues to establish himself as one of the top key position players in the BFL and was this week named at centre half-back in the Addy’s Team of the Year.

As for Thornton’s memories of the challenging 2008 season: “We had a very young side and copped a lot of floggings,” he said.

“But we were able to improve the year after and just missed out on the finals.

“Having that year under our belts probably made us a bit more accustomed to senior footy the following year when we started to improve.”

After bottoming out in 2008, the following year the Dragons won nine games and finished sixth.

They returned to the finals in 2010 and having finished no higher than fourth the previous four years, they are back on the grand final stage for the first time since 2004.

Nihill - who will play in Saturday’s reserves grand final - was a member of the Dragons’ last premiership side in 2004 when they beat Gisborne by 29 points.

The only player lining up for the Dragons in the seniors on Saturday who played in that 2004 flag is full-forward Ryan Haythorpe.

Haythorpe kicked three goals in the 2004 grand final.

“Ten years without a flag is too long, especially with the junior structure we have,” Nihill said.

“I know back in 2004 when we had such a young side, we were talking after the game about what a dynasty this could become.

“But for different reasons, blokes move on and it didn’t go as planned, and that’s why clubs like Golden Square are so impressive, because they can sustain it.”

As well as the seniors, the Dragons also have their reserves and under-18 teams in football grand finals on Saturday.

THE REBUILD:

2008

Won 1, lost 15 - 8th

2009

Won 9, lost 9 - 6th

2010

Won 10, lost 9 - 5th

lt Maryborough in elim final

2011

Won 12, lost 8 - 4th

d South Bendigo in elim final

lt Gisborne in first semi

2012

Won 13, lost 6, drew 1 - 4th

lt Golden Square in qual final

lost Strathfieldsaye in first semi

2013

Won 10, lost 7 - 5th

lt Gisborne in elim final

2014

into first grand final since 2004