BENDIGO LEAGUE GRAND FINALIST – STRATHFIELDSAYE

EAGLEHAWK’S Brodie Collins isn’t one to look back and lament on what could have been had he stayed with his home club Lockington-Bamawm United.

Collins won a senior flag in the Heathcote District league with the Cats in 2011 before making the step-up to have a crack with Eaglehawk in the Bendigo league.

After Collins’ departure to Canterbury Park the Cats went on to win another three flags in a row to complete a four-peat.

Had he stayed Collins could now be a four-time premiership player.

But for the past seven seasons Collins has instead channelled all his footballing energy into winning a flag with Eaglehawk.

“It was pretty hard watching my mates at Locky win that flag in 2012 after leaving the year before,” Collins said this week.

“But at the same time it gave me that extra motivation to kick into gear and realise that I had to get better at footy to help Eaglehawk along.”

Collins, who grew up on a dairy farm, played all his junior football with Lockington-Bamawm United from the under-14s, and also had a one-season stint with the Bendigo Pioneers.

He moved to Adelaide in 2011 for university and played one game with Glenelg’s under-18s before he secured an electrician job in Bendigo and returned to the Cats, going on to play in their grand final victory over Heathcote later that year.

“After the 2011 season I was really keen to try and play some better footy,” Collins said.

“Luke Monaghan had been an assistant with the Pioneers when I was there and was coaching Eaglehawk and talked me in to going out there.

“Eaglehawk was coming off a grand final in 2011 (loss to Golden Square), but they lost a few players after that year and we ended up missing the finals in 2012.”

While Lockington-Bamawm United will always be home for Collins, he has become entrenched at Eaglehawk.

A no frills, hard-working midfielder, Collins, 26, has played 121 senior games with the Hawks, with Saturday presenting a second opportunity to win a flag with his adopted club.

Having lost last year’s grand final to Strathfieldsaye when the Hawks blew a 20-point three quarter-time lead, Eaglehawk will again battle the Storm for the premiership at the QEO.

“When you spend an extended time at any footy club you get to know the people really well, make a lot of great friends and start to become part of the furniture I guess,” Collins said.

“Seven years is a long time to have not been able to get a premiership with the club, but then again a lot of players go throughout their career without the opportunity to play in finals, let alone grand finals.

“We were probably the better team in the grand final for three quarters last year, but a few things went against us and in the last quarter Strath had a howling wind and a bloke (Lachlan Sharp) who knows how to kick a few goals.

“It wasn’t meant to be last year, but that made a lot of the guys more hungry from the start of the pre-season to put their heads down and work harder.

“We think we recruited really well and the young guys like Gedd Homelholff, Oscar Madden, Jonty Neaves, Dylan Hanley and Lachie Atherton have all kicked on to that next level.

“The club is in a really good position with the youth and the older guys have been able to keep ticking along really well.”

One of those older players is skipper Tim Hill, who didn’t play his first senior game of the year until round 14 as he recovered from a pre-season ankle injury.

In Hill’s absence the Hawks were skippered by Collins, highlighting the esteem in which he is held at Canterbury Park.

“It was a big honour to captain the club and with it comes a big responsibility,” Collins said.

“Eaglehawk is a big club with a proud history and you’ve got to be setting the right example among your peers and making sure you’re on all the time and that’s why I’ve enjoyed helping to coach the under-18s this year.

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“I used to be one of those guys who was all about winning, but I’ve found of late I get just as much joy out of teaching the juniors and seeing them progress through the ranks.

“I really enjoy the coaching side of things with the thirds and also sharing knowledge with the younger guys in the seniors that older players have passed on to me.”

Among Collins’ team-mates on Saturday will be younger brother Jesse, who played in Lockington-Bamawm United’s 2012 and 2013 premierships and is also now hunting his first Eaglehawk flag.

Ben McPhee is also a former LBU premiership player (2011) with a chance of winning an Eaglehawk flag on Saturday.

Trent Bacon has also won flags at LBU (2013 and 2014) and is now at Eaglehawk, but his season has been over since suffering a knee injury in round one.

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FOOTBALL:

Under-18s – Gisborne v Sandhurst, 9am

Reserves – Strathfieldsaye v Sandhurst, 11.40am

Seniors – Eaglehawk v Strathfieldsaye, 2.20pm

NETBALL:

Under-17s – Sandhurst v Gisborne, 9am

B Reserve – South Bendigo v Strathfieldsaye, 10.30am

B Grade – Sandhurst v Golden Square, noon

A Reserve – Kangaroo Flat v Kyneton, 1.30pm

A Grade – Gisborne v Sandhurst, 3pm

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