BENDIGO – STRATHFIELDSAYE 8.12 (60) def SANDHURST 8.5 (53).
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It will go down as one of the most bizarre grand finals in Bendigo Football League history, and if you weren’t there at the QEO that September afternoon, you’d be forgiven for thinking Strathfieldsaye and Sandhurst battled for the flag in driving rain and a howling breeze.
Yet in perfect spring conditions with not a cloud in the sky, the two sides kicked just eight goals apiece, and somehow, the game was still alive into time-on of the final quarter after Sandhurst earlier had just one behind on the board at half-time.
While it may not have been a great spectacle, at least the grand final was close, with the Storm winning by seven points to cap an undefeated season.
The Storm won the flag kicking a score of 8.12 (60). It was the lowest winning BFL grand final tally for 57 years since Rochester won the 1958 flag against Castlemaine with a score of 8.11 (59).
The game should have been done and dusted at half-time, with the Storm having scored 11 times to Sandhurst’s one – a behind kicked by teenager Braidon Blake.
But the kicking yips went through the Storm like a plague in the first half, and for all their domination, they had just a 20-point buffer at the main break and the Dragons had dodged a major bullet.
Having 2.1 on the board early in the game, Strathfieldsaye’s last eight scoring shots of the first half were all behinds as the Storm went into the long break with a wasteful 2.9.
The only goals of the first half were kicked by the Storm’s Michael Pilcher and Shaun Everington. Both goals were kicked while Sandhurst’s Adam Parry was off the field with a yellow-card for a late bump on Strathfieldsaye’s Fergus Payne.
Sandhurst didn’t kick its first goal of the grand final until the six-minute mark of the third quarter when Lee Coghlan marked and converted a set-shot at the city end.
But by three quarter-time the Dragons were back within 13 points after kicking four goals to three for the term and it was game on in what was an unfamiliar position for Strathfieldsaye, given the all-conquering Storm on average had been eight goals up at the last change this year.
The Storm knocked some wind out of the Dragons’ sails by kicking the first goal of the final term through skipper Shannon Geary, but the Dragons continued to press, and when Joel Wharton nailed back-to-back goals, the margin was back to seven points.
The Dragons continually pumped the ball forward in the last quarter – they had 20 inside 50s to seven in the final term – but as it had done all season, the Storm backline was able to hold firm.
Although, the Dragons didn’t help their cause with four out of bounds on the full in the final term.
The Storm, in what was their 37th win in a row, were finally able to shake off the underdog Dragons with back-to-back goals to Sam Mildren – the last of his career having since retired – and Jake Hall that pushed the margin back out to 19 points.
But the Dragons didn’t throw in the towel, kicking the final two goals of the game through Parry and Matt Thornton, but it was too little, too late.
The Storm’s Matt Smith (Nalder) and Sandhurst’s Codie Price (AFL Victoria Country) were the medal winners.
HEATHCOTE DISTRICT – NORTH BENDIGO 10.13 (73) def LEITCHVILLE-GUNBOWER 8.15 (63).
One of the region’s longest premiership droughts finally came to an end for North Bendigo when the Bulldogs won their first flag for 38 years.
The Bulldogs won a ripping HDFL grand final against Leitchville-Gunbower by 10 points – North Bendigo’s first flag since 1977.
A crowd that paid a record gate of $59,000 turned up at Huntly and they weren’t disappointed as they watched a grand final in which no more than 15 points separated the two sides.
The Bulldogs played most of the game a man down after Ash Craig was knocked out in a bump from Joel Helman nine minutes in, while Shaun Kellow was also sidelined for much of the match with a broken rib.
The Bulldogs led at every change – by 12 points at quarter-time, two at half-time and eight at three quarter-time ahead of a frantic final term in which the Bombers peppered the goals, but squandered opportunities.
Chasing their first flag since 1995, the Bombers kicked an off-target 1.7 in the final term from their 18 inside-50s, while the Bulldogs managed 2.3, with one of those goals the sealer from Paul Prime after roving a boundary throw-in.
Providing some extra motivation for the Bulldogs were post-game photos plastered around the walls of the changerooms at half-time of the despair of a year earlier when North Bendigo had been over-run in the second half by LBU in the grand final.
Athletic North Bendigo ruckman Troy Kelm was a clear-cut winner of the best-on-ground medal as he further enhanced his big-game reputation.
LODDON VALLEY – BRIDGEWATER 17.14 (116) def MITIAMO 8.12 (60).
There once again a familiar sight on LVFL grand final day this year – Bridgewater celebrating a premiership.
For the sixth year in a row, the Mean Machine won the grand final, with their latest victim Mitiamo, which had gallantly won its way through to the decider from the elimination final.
A crowd of $38,500 saw Bridgewater equal Calivil United’s LVFL record of six flags in a row with the 56-point victory at Newbridge.
The Mean Machine broke the game open in the second and third quarters against a Mitiamo side that served it up physically.
After leading by 11 points at quarter-time, the Mean Machine slammed on 9.6 to 1.5 in the second and third terms to put another flag safely in their keeping.
Mitiamo’s wayward kicking proved costly, with the Superoos hindering their chances of a grand final upset by registering 2.9 in the first half, with six of those misses set-shots.
Bridgewater wingman Callum Prest, who kicked three goals, was awarded the best on ground medal. However, if he hadn’t had a four-week suspension successfully appealed and cut back to two, Prest would have been watching the grand final from the sidelines.
The win also doubled as the Mean Machine’s 100th from just 109 games during their six-straight premiership years.
NORTH CENTRAL – ST ARNAUD 13.8 (86) def CHARLTON 11.12 (78).
This grand final between the Saints and Navy Blues at Wedderburn in front of a crowd that paid a gate of $39,445 was a beauty, but with what has become an all-too-familiar ending for Charlton.
After losing the previous two grand finals by one and 12 points, it looked like being a case of third time lucky when the Navy Blues grabbed control of the momentum in the final term and stormed to the front.
St Arnaud had led by 27 points during the final quarter, before the Navy Blues unleashed a 10-minute burst of five-straight goals and from nowhere, led by four points, while the Saints looked out on their feet.
However, against the tide of play, the Saints rallied, kicking the last two goals through Gavin Vassallo and Des Darcy medallist Nick Coghlan – who bagged five for the match – to win by eight points.
For the Saints, it was not only their first premiership since 1999, but completed a four-year journey under outgoing coach James McNamee from the bottom of the ladder to the top.
The Saints made more of their chances, winning the grand final despite having two less scoring shots and six less inside 50s than the Navy Blues as another flag went begging.
The grand final was the seventh time in eight years the NCFL flag battle had been decided by less than 15 points.
