More pain for Mounts as Blues kick just one goal against North Bendigo

The once revered Mount Pleasant has kicked just one goal in its past two Heathcote District league games after it was on the wrong end of another ugly scoreline on Saturday.

The Blues – the most successful club in the league with 19 senior premierships – were beaten by 165 points by North Bendigo, 25.25 (175) to 1.4 (10).

Mount Pleasant’s tally of 1.4 came seven days after it scored just 0.2 in a 136-point hiding from Huntly.

North Bendigo’s victory continues what’s currently the league’s longest winning streak by one club over another, with it the Bulldogs 17th-straight over the Blues.

The Bulldogs’ thumping win was the biggest of what was a one-sided round eight in which the four margins were 165, 100, 82 and 78 points – an average of 106.

At Toolleen, the Blues kicked their only goal of the game in the third quarter through Jake Fitch.

Down the other end the Bulldogs, who amassed at least 50 scoring shots for the third time this season, had Brady Herdman as their dominant avenue to goal with a bag of nine to be North Bendigo’s best player.

“Brady got a lot of footy up the ground in the first half and had a couple of chances to get to 10 goals; he was by far our best player,” Bulldogs coach Rob Bennett said.

The Bulldogs led by 45 points at quarter-time, 95 at half-time and 122 at the last change before blowing the final margin out to 165 – North’s biggest win over the Blues in their 47 meetings.

“Our main focus today was to ensure we stayed mentally switched on for four quarters. The pleasing thing is the playing group sets standards for themselves and it was good to see we didn’t go away from our structures,” Bennett said.

Ruckman Brett Strange was again outstanding for the Bulldogs and is shaping as one of the leading Cheatley Medal contenders.

Although, he’s going to have plenty of team-mates also polling votes.

Onballers Lachlan Ford, Tyson Findlay and Jarrod Findlay were also among the best for the Bulldogs, who had Sam Barnes’ game end during the third quarter with a tight hamstring, while Joel Helman was sidelined from the second quarter with back spasms.

The Blues’ percentage has dropped from 73.8 to 46.5 having been outscored 313-12 in their past two games.

• In what was the closest game of the round, Colbinabbin moved into the top three with a 78-point victory over Lockington-Bamawm United.

The Cats had been within 22 points at half-time, but the Grasshoppers put their foot down after the break to run out 18.13 (121) to 6.7 (43) victors at Lockington.

“To play the way we did in the second half was really pleasing,” Colbinabbin coach Nick Knight said.

“We were really flat for the first quarter-and-a-half and weren’t switched on the way we needed to be. The boys copped a bit of a bake at half-time and responded really well.”

The Grasshoppers – who have reached the halfway mark of their season 5-3 – outscored the Cats 11.6 to 2.4 in the second half.

Damien Carmody (five), Ryan Hon (five) and Knight (four) combined for 14 goals for the Grasshoppers, who also had good players in wingman Will Morrow (two goals) and vice-captain Sam Vale, who again set the tone through the midfield.

The Cats, who are now 0-7, were best served by their polished midfield duo of brothers Meyrick Buchanan and Callum Buchanan.

“The way we fell away in the second half was full credit to Colbo. They play a really good brand of footy and defend exceptionally well,” Cats coach Peter Gibbs said.

• Leitchville-Gunbower bounced back from its first loss of the season, dishing out an 82-point hiding to White Hills.

The Bombers extended their lead at every change in winning 20.11 (131) to 7.7 (49) at Leitchville.

Gun forward Matt Perri bagged nine goals for the Bombers, including five in the second term, while midfielder Jackson McEwen was just as prominent, with Bendigo Pioneer-listed Brady Hore and Matthew Pollock other standouts.

“We didn’t play as well as we would have liked in the first half, but I was really pleased with the second half and thought we played a much better brand,” Bombers coach Matt Hawken said.

“Our midfield, led by Jackson McEwen, who was best on ground by a mile, really got going in the second half.”

Leitchville-Gunbower’s score of 20.11 means it’s still the only side to have kicked more goals than behinds in all of its games so far, with its efficiency highlighted by its 31 scoring shots from 48 inside 50s.

On a sour note, the Bombers suffered injuries to Joel Donehue and Sean Hay early in the game.

“Nothing major, but they will probably miss a couple of weeks,” Hawken said.

White Hills coach Brent Millar said the Demons, who dropped from third to fifth, paid the price for poor disposal going inside 50.

“It was really disappointing today. Leitchville was so polished, whereas we were able to win a lot of the ball, but let ourselves down with our final kick going into our forward line,” Millar said.

“We’re breaking down across half-forward and that has been the story of the past three weeks… it has probably cost us 20 goals.

“And we gave up about 12 goals as a result of direct turnovers. You’re never going to beat good teams like Leitchville when you’re giving them 12 goals off turnovers.”

Jake Dickens, who spent most of the day in defence, continued his impressive form to be the best for the Demons, while Eddie Dickins and Gavin Bowles also battled hard.

• Huntly is on the surge as it won its second game in a row by a triple-figure margin, beating Elmore by 100 points.

The Hawks’ 21.20 (146) to 6.10 (46) victory at Elmore followed their 136-point flogging of Mount Pleasant the previous week.

The Hawks are now 4-3 and have lifted their percentage back over 100 following the 149-point hiding they copped off North Bendigo in their first game.

“It was a good four-quarter effort. The scores probably don’t indicate that Elmore really made us work for it and had a solid crack around the ball,” Hawks co-coach Jamie Hogan said.

Chris Gleeson (six) and co-coach Ryan Semmel (five) combined for 11 goals for the Hawks, whose best player was onballer Daniel Paterson (two goals).

Dale Williamson kicked four of Elmore’s six goals, while in his 100^th game for the club, Nick Kellow was best for the Bloods, who have lost five in a row.

“We had enough of the ball in the first half, but turnovers let us down and in the second half Huntly was more clinical and able to run right over the top of us,” said Elmore coach Danny Brewster, who was held goalless for just the fourth time in his 39 games for the Bloods.

Brewster was opposed by the Hawks’ Ewen Pickles.