UNDEFEATED Bendigo Football League flag favourite Strathfieldsaye is on track to produce the most dominant defensive season in the Bendigo Football League for more than 20 years.
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After 14 rounds the Storm are conceding an average of just 7.6 goals per game.
If Strathfieldsaye can at least maintain that figure over the rest of the season, it would rank the Storm at No.1 for least goals conceded per game going back to 1992.
Currently, the best defensive record for a completed BFL season since 1992 is the unbeaten Golden Square side of 2011 that on average conceded just 7.7 goals per game.
The Bulldogs of 2011, coached by Nick Carter, are the only side of the past 23 years to concede less than eight goals per game, but the Storm’s defensive performance this season has them firmly on track to also come in at well under eight goals a game.
The most goals the Storm – who have now won a modern day BFL record of 31 games in a row - have conceded this season was the 12 Eaglehawk and Sandhurst kicked against them in rounds 11 and 12.
Strathfieldsaye coach Darryl Wilson says the Storm haven’t had any extra focus on defence this year, with limiting the opposition’s ability to score having always been a high priority.
“I remember back when I was at Colbo and coached by Toot Morgan and there was a lot of talk about if you get the defensive end right then the rest will take shape,” Wilson said on Wednesday.
“We haven’t focused on it any more this year than in the past, but it’s important to have the right people down there who can execute, which we’ve had.
“We brought in a good full-back (Kane Airdrie); I’ve always felt Jayden Donaldson has been very under-rated as a key defender, but we do rotate fairly heavily through our back half.
“Matt Smith, Kallen Geary, Kellan Smith, Fergus Payne, Harry Conway and Tom Dowd have all played back… they are quality players and all really competitive.”
Strathfieldsaye has always been lauded for the potency of its forward line featuring star names such as Stephen Milne, Sam Mildren, Tom Bartholomew, Matthew Ferguson and Lachlan Sharp, but defence was also a cornerstone of the club’s premiership season last year when it conceded just 8.2 goals per game, ranked equal second for completed seasons since 1992.
The last team to kick a triple figure score against the Storm was Gisborne in round eight last year when the Bulldogs booted 16.7 (103) in a 33-point loss.
In the 26 games since, only seven times have the Storm given up more than 10 goals in a game, with four of them having been against Sandhurst.
LEAST GOALS CONCEDED PER GAME IN BFL SINCE 1992:
7.6* – Strathfieldsaye (2015, season incomplete)
7.7 – Golden Square (2011).
8.2 – South Bendigo (1993).
8.2 – Strathfieldsaye (2014).
8.6 – South Bendigo (1994).
