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LVFL GRAND FINALIST: Mitiamo
HISTORY is beckoning for Bridgewater in Saturday’s Loddon Valley Football-Netball League grand final.
A win against Mitiamo at Pyramid Hill would deliver the Mean Machine an unprecedented seventh-consecutive flag in the LVFNL.
And you would be brave to suggest the star-studded Mean Machine won’t be basking in the glory of the premiership record outright – they currently share six in a row with Calivil United – given the faultless season they have produced so far.
Just as they did two years ago, the Mean Machine under coach Marc Lindsay enters the grand final undefeated, with their average winning margin 88 points.
Overall, the club will carry a 29-game winning streak into the grand final, having not been beaten since round five last year when upstaged by Pyramid Hill by 13 points at Mitchell Park – the venue for Saturday’s showdown.
As dominant as the Mean Machine has been this year, it hasn’t been all smooth sailing, particularly with their forward structure in which Brad Rohde (eight games), Alex Collins (nine), Rick Ladson (12) and Andrew Collins (six) have all had interrupted seasons.
Yet they have still averaged 136 points per game – 40 more than their grand final rivals, Mitiamo.
Ben Galea has enjoyed a career-best season for the Mean Machine with 50 goals, which has included 11 in his three games against the Superoos.
The midfield has been brilliantly led by hard-running captain Zeb Broadbent, who has taken his game to a new level and was a deserving winner of the Harding Medal with 31 votes.
Callum Prest has also been consistent on a wing and Josh Metherell in the ruck has been influential, while the backline has been as stingy as ever.
Led by the reliable Darren Clutton, Daniel Nalder, Tristin Nalder and Luke Harrison, who have 20 premierships between them, the Mean Machine have conceded an average score of just 48 and give up only 13 scoring shots per game.
Not even the distraction that was four players being suspended late in the season has been able to derail the Mean Machine, who have shown so often in recent years they find another gear on grand final day, with their six flags in a row by an average of 73 points.
