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For the first 10 rounds of the season the HDFNL premiership story line was North Bendigo first, daylight second.
Rounds 11-13 have changed the plot, not considerably, but enough to suggest we still might get a twist in the tale.
The Bulldogs scraped home against Huntly in round 11, had the bye in round 12 and then on Saturday was given a scare by White Hills for the second time this season.
North Bendigo coach Rob Bennett described the 16.16 (112) to 11.13 (79) win as his side’s worst performance of the season.
The Dogs also lost star forward Brady Herdman to a recurrence of a hamstring injury.
“White Hills had a game plan that they executed well and we were extremely disappointed in our output today,’’ Bennett said.
“I said our performance against Huntly was our worst for the year. Today’s performance was close to that if not worse.”
Bennett said he and the players shared some home truths after the 33-point victory.
“We had a chat after the game as a group because we’ve had two pretty poor performances in a row and we don’t want it to become a habit,’’ Bennett said.
“There’s a few areas we need to improve on. The defensive side of our game was right off and our team football went out the window. We were lazy at times and our defensive footy, which is what we pride ourselves on, was wide of the mark.”
Bennett said the Bulldogs had few four-quarter performers, but he praised the effort of ruckman Brett Strange.
Midfielder Jarrod Findlay, forward Sam Barnes (four goals) and Tom Metherell were others to play well for the Dogs.
It’s hard to believe that White Hills could stretch North Bendigo to the limit just a few weeks after dropping a game to lowly Elmore.
“You always know what you’re going to get from North Bendigo, so if you’re not mentally prepared it can get ugly very quickly,’’ White Hills coach Brent Millar said.
“Our major focus today was to have a team defensive effort. We’ve had games where we’ve been good at it, but others where we’ve been really poor. Today it was good.
“We missed some opportunities in the third quarter which could have got us a bit closer, but overall I was really proud of our efforts. It was a team effort and we had no passengers today.”
Millar used regular key forward Sean Christopher as a key backman with good effect.
Mitch Curtis, Hayden Wright and Levi Middleton did damage through the middle of the park.
The Demons have the bye next round and can seal a finals berth with a victory over LBU in round 15.
Huntly’s resurgence continued when it belted Lockington-Bamawm United by 117 points.
The Hawks have won five of their past six matches and are making a charge towards the top three.
The Hawks trailed by four points at the first change before adding 22 goals to three in the final three quarters to win 25.16 (166) to 7.7 (49).
Braidy Dickins kicked six goals in his second game of the season, while the lively Jacob Greenwood and Harry Whittle bagged nine goals between them.
Matt Jeffries, Greenwood and Daniel Paterson were best for Huntly.
After winning three games in a row, the Cats had their bubble burst. Jordan Brown, Hayden Mitchell and Meryick Buchanan battled hard against the odds.
Second-placed Leitchville-Gunbower handed Elmore a footy lesson.
The Bombers won 32.20 (212) to 6.6 (42). It was their second score above 200 in as many weeks and the third time in four years that they’ve kicked more than 200 points in a game against Elmore.
The Bombers capped the day by kicking 13.7 to 1.2 in the final term.
“Elmore has a few injuries at the moment and we’re starting to get our best team on the park,’’ Leitchville coach Matt Hawken said.
“I thought Elmore played some good footy in the third quarter, but our last quarter was really good. I think we took 17 marks inside forward 50 in the last quarter, which shows how well we played.”
The Bombers, who had Alex Keath make his senior debut, had 12 individual goal kickers led by Tim Lincoln and Jack Dye, who kicked seven goals each.
The HDFNL’s leading goal kicker Matt Perri was held to four goals by Elmore defender Tyler Oliver.
“It was nice to see some versatility for us in the forward line today,’’ Hawken said.
“Overall, we were really happy with the effort today.”
The Bombers were best served by Dye, Lincoln, Matt Pollock and Steve Pretty.
Elmore’s best were Oliver, Luke Price and Nathan Brewster.
Colbinabbin overcame a sluggish first half to defeat Heathcote by 47 points.
Just five goals were kicked between the two teams in the first half, but the Grasshoppers’ class and depth eventually wore the Saints down and they won 13.13 (91) to 6.8 (44).
“Heathcote played really well in the first and didn’t allow us to play the game we wanted to play,’’ Colbo coach Nick Knight said.
“They kept forcing stoppages and we couldn’t get any flow into our game.
“We changed a few things at half-time and that helped get things going our way.
“We settled our forward line and moved Ryan Hon from the midfield to attack. He kicked five goals in the second half which was really pleasing.”
Midfielder Cameron Hall had a big second half for the Grasshoppers, Sam Vale won plenty of the ball all day and Natthanial Nixon continued his superb form with another solid four-quarter performance.
Jake Condon, Jack Paisley, Louis Piccolo and Tom Bourke were best for the gallant Saints.