20. Back to back Grasshoppers – winning back-to-back flags is one thing.
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Doing it undefeated is another, yet that’s what Navarre achieved in the Maryborough-Castlemaine District Football League this year.
Apart from a couple of tight finals, the Grasshoppers barely had to break a sweat this year in going 19-0 with an average margin of 78 points.
The statistics showed a season of utter domination by the Grasshoppers.
They kicked 355 goals to 131; won 67 of 76 quarters; averaged 124 points for and 46 against; and spent 95 per cent of the season in front on the scoreboard.
The season culminated in a 55-point grand final win over Carisbrook.
19. Selwood purrs again – what a proud moment it must have been for Bendigo parents Bryce and Maree Selwood to watch their son, Joel, lead Australia on to Patersons Stadium to take on Ireland in the International Rules Test last month.
The Australian captaincy was one of many feathers in the cap for what was another outstanding 2014 in the AFL by Selwood.
For the second year in a row the Geelong star was named All-Australian captain, won his third Carji Greeves Medal as Cats’ best and fairest and named the AFLPA most courageous player for the fourth time.
His superb season ensured there was plenty of interest in Bendigo on Brownlow Medal night when Selwood went into the count as favourite.
But he was unable to emulate the feat of Greg Williams as a Bendigo Brownlow Medallist and had to settle for equal fourth with 21 votes – five behind surprise winner Matt Priddis from West Coast.
18. Gold near miss v Blues – about as flat as I’ve been after a game of footy on that Sunday afternoon back in June at the QEO when the Bendigo Gold was cruelly denied its first win against the Northern Blues.
Desperately trying to cling to a one-point lead in the dying seconds, the Gold were left shattered after a scrambled kick in the Blues’ forward line found Nick Holman, who marked and with three seconds left on the clock goaled from 20m to give Northern a 14.11 (95) to 14.6 (90) victory.
The scenes at the final siren said it all as dejected Gold players, who week after week had been pummelled, slumped to the ground in disbelief.
More heartbreak was to come two games later when the Gold again had the lead late in the final quarter against the Casey Scorpions, only to lose by two points.
Apart from those two agonising defeats, the Gold lost their other 16 games by an average of 78 points and ended their two stand-alone seasons winless.
17. Collins brothers obliterate Emus – the 2014 Emu Valley Cricket Association grand final will be remembered as the “Collins Show”.
Brothers Alex and Andrew Collins shared in a partnership for the ages when they put on 293 for the second wicket for United against Emu Creek, taking the score from 1-22 to 315.
Andrew smacked 158 and Alex belted 141 as the Tigers blasted a mammoth 371.
Just for good measure, Alex claimed a tidy 6-54 with the ball the following day.
16. Dogs’ dynasty ends – they say all good things must come to an end, and that was the case this year for Golden Square’s reign of BFL dominance
With five flags in a row, the Bulldogs would have equalled Sandhurst’s BFL record of six-consecutive premierships had they added another this year.
But the dream of six in a row ended in a first semi-final thriller when Golden Square surrendered a 16-point lead during the final term to be beaten by four points by Gisborne in what was another memorable encounter between the BFL’s two great modern-day rivals.
The following week Gisborne was involved in another thriller, but was on the wrong end of the result, losing the preliminary final to Sandhurst by five points in a game where it was over-run in the last minute.
