NORTH Bendigo won’t fall into the trap of under-estimating Huntly again, according to coach Rob Bennett.
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The Bulldogs and Hawks will meet in Saturday’s Heathcote District preliminary final at Elmore.
The prize on offer is a grand final berth next week against Leitchville-Gunbower at Huntly.
Saturday will be the second meeting between the two teams this finals series.
When they met a fortnight ago the Hawks upstaged the Bulldogs, winning by nine points in a game set up by a dominant first half.
The result was a massive turnaround from a week earlier when the Bulldogs had ended the home and away season with a 124-point rout of the Hawks.
Bennett admits given the one-sided nature of their round 18 win that North Bendigo had gone into the qualifying final the following week under-estimating the Hawks and they paid the price.
“There was no doubt about that, especially in the first half, and it was a disappointing result, but we responded well last week and will certainly be ready to go this week,” Bennett said on Friday.
“The build-up to our first final left a lot to be desired and I need to wear some of that responsibility for that, but it was a lot better last week and has been again this week.”
The Bulldogs have answered every cut-throat challenge – of which Saturday is another – that they have faced over the past 12 months.
After losing last year’s qualifying final to Colbinabbin, the Bulldogs bounced back with first semi-final and preliminary final wins, before defeating Leitchville-Gunbower by 10 points in the grand final to end a 38-year premiership drought.
Again this year the Bulldogs lost the qualifying final, but last week rallied from a 14-point deficit in the wet during the third quarter to defeat Colbinabbin by 25 points in the first semi-final to keep alive their hopes of back-to-back flags.
“We’ve spoken from last week onwards that every game from then on was a must-win; we’ve been in these positions before and I’ll back my players to prepare themselves the right way,” Bennett said.
The Bulldogs regain utility Darcy Richards, with Luke Buttigieg making way, while unlike a fortnight ago against the Hawks this time they will have star forward Sam Barnes in the line-up.
Barnes (75) and fellow star forward Brady Herdman (77) have combined for 152 goals for the Bulldogs, who for the fifth year in a row have made it to at least the preliminary final.
“The players who have been around the club for a few years have played a lot of finals, and then bringing in the experience of a Herdman, Barnes, (Brett) Strange and Buttigieg, who has played in five premierships over the past five years, it adds to the mix with guys who have been able to perform on the big stage,” Bennett said.
The Hawks last week squandered the chance to move directly into the grand final when they were beaten by an injury-hit Leitchville-Gunbower by 58 points in the second semi-final.
The big question mark hovering over the Hawks on Saturday is will it be Jekkel or Hyde that turns up given the vast contrast of their previous two performances against the Bulldogs.
“It’s going to come down to the hunger this week… if the hunger is there, and it should be given we’re starving for success, then we’ve proven we can play well against them,” Huntly coach Jamie Hogan said.
“If North took us lightly at all last time, I’m sure that’s not going to happen again, so we have to make sure we lift our intensity and our hunger.
“The prize is fantastic with a grand final berth up for grabs and the boys certainly have a lot of self belief out of our win against them a couple of weeks ago.”
Despite last week’s 58-point hiding from the Bombers, Hogan says the confidence of his players hasn’t been dented.
“The big thing we learned from last week is we were right in the game, but when there were periods where a team had to really stand up, it was Leitchville that did it,” Hogan said.
“And that comes back to playing with that hunger for all of the four quarters, which is what it takes to get into grand finals.”
A key focus for the Hawks will be denying supply to the Bulldogs’ two big guns in Barnes and Herdman
“If it gets down there enough we are going to be in trouble, so we’ve got to make sure we’re on our toes in the midfield and getting it down our end,” Hogan said.
“We think in different ways we can be dangerous in our forward line as well, so we’ve got to get it going our way.”
The Hawks feature three players who have kicked 40-plus goals in Harry Whittle (50), Ryan Semmel (48) and Chris Gleeson (46), while Jacob Greenwood has also bagged 33.
The Hawks have made one change to their side, with Luke Semmel coming back from a hamstring injury and Matt Rule out.
Gavin James, who has missed the past two games with a hamstring injury, wasn’t named.
This season’s meetings:
Rd 9 – North Bendigo 15.10 (100) d Huntly 14.9 (93).
Rd 18 – North Bendigo 26.19 (175) d Huntly 7.9 (51).
Qualifying final – Huntly 18.14 (122) d North Bendigo 16.17 (113).
Meanwhile, the HDFNL will hold its Cheatley Medal count at the Bendigo Club on Sunday afternoon
Leading contenders for the 2016 Cheatley Medal shape as Nick Knight (Colbinabbin), Danny Brewster (Elmore), Harry Whittle (Huntly), Ryan Semmel (Huntly), Tom German (Leitchville-Gunbower) and Jarrod Findlay (North Bendigo).
Luke West tips: Harry Whittle (Huntly).
Adam Bourke: Harry Whittle (Huntly).