KEEPING a consistent base together and a stingy defence are two of the parallels Andrew Freemantle sees between Calivil United’s run of six Loddon Valley Football League flags in a row and the Bridgewater juggernaut that is aiming to equal the Demons’ record on Saturday.
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Bridgewater takes on Mitiamo in Saturday’s LVFL grand final at Newbridge.
If the Mean Machine win – and they are raging hot $1.13 favourites with Sportsbet – they will join Calivil United as the only clubs in LVFL history to win six premierships in a row.
The Demons achieved the feat during the 2000s when they won six on the trot between 2003 and 2008, before their streak was broken in 2009 by the same club aiming to end Bridgewater’s domination – the Superoos.
Freemantle coached four of the six in a row – 2003, 2004, 2007 and 2008 - and has spent the past two years coaching the Demons again, and copping four hidings off the Mean Machine by an average of 110 points.
While comparing eras is always difficult – even if the end of the Calivil United dynasty and start of the Bridgewater domination are only two years apart – Freemantle says several similarities stand out.
“You look at Bridgewater and they’ve got a core group who have played in all their premierships,” Freemantle said this week.
“Back in our run, we had five players who played in all six – Lachie Ralphs, Steve Dean, Ross Maxted, Aaron Demeo and myself.
“You’ve got a fairly consistent base there to build around each year.”
Bridgewater’s team on Saturday will feature four players who have played in all five flags – captain Darren Clutton, Brad Rohde, Deon Jones and Daniel Nalder.
Zac East also played in the past five, but is playing with Sandhurst this year.
“The other similarity is our strength was our backline, and when you look at Bridgewater’s backline, they are so strong through that area,” Freemantle said.
“Daniel Nalder and Darren Clutton are obviously their keys down there, but there’s a lot of other quality players alongside them.
“We had Steve Dean, Lachie Ralphs, Steve Blake and those sort of blokes in defence, so I reckon the backlines are fairly similar.
“But Bridgewater moves the ball like no other team I’ve seen in the Loddon Valley in my time… they will regularly move from the ball from a kick-in from defence to scoring a goal.”
Throughout its run of six flags in a row, Calivil United won 99 of 115 games for a winning percentage of 86.0, including back-to-back undefeated years in 2004 and 2005.
Since round one, 2010 – the first year of Bridgewater’s five flags in a row – the Mean Machine has won 99 of 108 matches for a strike rate of 91.6 per cent.
As for the prospect of the Mean Machine equaling the Demons’ flag record, it doesn’t faze Freemantle: “I’m sure there’s plenty of Calivil people who don’t want it to happen, but it doesn’t make much difference to me.”
