SOUTH Bendigo can be added to the list of genuine contenders in the Bendigo Football-Netball League this year after it recorded the most significant win so far of its rebuild that began in 2014.
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The resurgent Bloods claimed the big scalp of reigning premier Sandhurst by 30 points at the QEO on Saturday to improve to 5-1, having now won as many games as they did for all of last year after six rounds.
The Bloods conceded the first three goals of the game inside the opening six minutes.
But for the remainder of the match they outscored Sandhurst by double – 96-48 – as they won 13.18 (96) to 9.12 (66) in a performance where they hunted the Dragons with relentless tackle pressure and then burnt them with leg speed.
Although, the win wasn’t enough to keep the Bloods on top of the ladder, with Strathfieldsaye grabbing pole position courtesy of a percentage-boosting 149-point thumping of battling Castlemaine at Camp Reserve.
Bloods’ coach Brady Childs was integral in the win with a bag of five goals in what looks set to be a new forward role in the absence of the injured Kaiden Antonowicz.
“A win like today continues to build trust and confidence,” Childs said.
“A few people said to me after the game that the players all look like they are on the same page and sometimes that can be half the battle in footy.
“I was really happy with our pressure today and it was a good sign that we were able to continue on from last week (win over Kyneton) having made three changes.”
The win came with some extra cause for celebration for the Bloods in what was co-captain Aaron Connaughton’s 150th game for the club, which also regained the Graeme Wright Memorial Cup for the first time since 2013.
“There were probably 120 of our past players who came back to the club today and it was great we were able to play the way we did in front of them and in Azza’s milestone game,” Childs said.
The defeat was the Dragons’ second of the season, with their cause not helped with a hamstring injury to Arthur Rootsey in the first quarter.
“To Brady’s credit with South, his players look like they have brought into what he wants them to do. They are confident in what they are doing and good luck to them,” Sandhurst coach Wayne Primmer said.
“They played a good brand of football and we have to sit back and lick our wounds. We’ve got a bit of work to do, but credit where it’s due and South was too good for us.”
Primmer said his players needed to embrace the challenge that comes with the tag of reigning premier as being the hunted every week.
“We know clubs are coming gunning for us and we should enjoy that. We’re just having some trouble at the moment embracing the whole scenario of it,” Primmer said.
