IT has taken until round 17, but reigning premier Sandhurst has finally secured its return to the BFNL finals for the eighth season in a row.
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That’s the positive for the Dragons after Saturday’s 19.13 (127) to 7.12 (54) victory over Kangaroo Flat at the QEO, coupled with South Bendigo’s 115-point loss to Strathfieldsaye, guaranteed Sandhurst can’t be dislodged from the top five.
The negative though is the injury toll that has significantly plagued their premiership defence has grown longer, with Liam Ireland (season-ending broken collarbone), Lachlan Ross (hamstring) and Zac East (ankle) all now added to it.
“I suppose what it (guaranteed finals berth) means for us is if we’ve got a few sore players we don’t have to play them next week (against Gisborne),” Dragons coach Wayne Primmer said.
The Dragons lost Ireland and Ross, who had only recently returned after a delayed start to 2017 with a wrist injury, in the first 10 minutes in a game where they extended their advantage at every break.
Playing predominantly forward, Andrew Collins showed his class for the Dragons with a bag of six goals – the most by a Sandhurst player this year.
Bendigo Pioneer-listed Rourke Turner also impressed Primmer in his first senior game for the Dragons, playing a midfield-forward role
“Rourke played really well for us. He’s a good-sized lad and he did some good work around the stoppages,” Primmer said.
“He’s going to see the year out with us now and it has given us another midfielder that I know we can use among the heat.”
Captain Blair Holmes in his 150th senior game for the Dragons was also one of the best, while Seb Greene chipped in with four goals to be among a spread of nine Sandhurst goalkickers.
The young Roos squandered the opportunity to apply scoreboard pressure in the first half when they scored just 2.8 to trail by 29 points at the main break.
The Roos’ cause also wasn’t helped during the third quarter when Sandhurst kicked four goals while Nathan McHugh was off the ground with a yellow card.
“We were fairly competitive for the first two-and-a-half quarters,” Roos co-coach Shawn Filo said.
“In the second quarter we had probably 70 per cent of the ball in our front half and just couldn’t take our chances. When the ball turned over they were able to sling shot it back and get some goals.”
The Roos were best served by Sam Maddern off half-back, ruckman Nick Lang, key on-baller Jonathan Lanyon, who laid 15 tackles, and Liam Collins (two goals).
