An inspired Bridgewater has jumped into third place on the LVFNL ladder after it produced a season-best performance on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Mean Machine defeated the in-form Marong 17.14 (116) to 12.11 (83) to take their season record to 4-2.
Bridgewater trailed by 10 points at half-time, but kicked 11 goals to four after the main break to win impressively.
Bridgewater coach Dale Cameron said a pre-match talk from seriously injured clubmate Jackson Davie played a role in the win.
"It was massive for the club to have Jacko at the game,'' Cameron said.
"Jacko spoke to us in the rooms before the game and everyone was hungry to play well.
"The way we fought in the second half was a lot for him. We used his motto to fight for every inch.
"The best part of the day was in the rooms after the game where he sang the song with us.
"Jacko has a long road ahead and we want to do our best to support him as much as we can."
Midfielders Peter Rothacker, Tom McKinley and Liam Jacques were brilliant for Bridgewater, while centre half-forward Alex Powell kicked five goals.
"We bombed the ball inside forward 50 a bit too much early, but after half-time we sharpened up our ball use and used the corridor more,'' Cameron said.
"Powelly cluncked everything at centre half-forward and gave us a great target.
"In the third quarter we laid 22 tackles which is probably our best quarter for the year.
"Our pressure was awesome all day. We held our tackles and forced Marong to turn the footy over."
Kyle Manley, who kicked three goals, continued his great form to be Marong's best player ahead of Callum Williamson, Nathan Walsh and Josh Cooper.
Maiden Gully YCW is starting to build some momentum.
After a sluggish start to the season, the Eagles won their third-straight game on Saturday night when they handed reigning premier Newbridge a 41-point thumping at Marist College.
Newbridge led the home side by 13 points at the first break, but it was one-way traffic from then on as the Eagles added 11 goals to two to win 14.8 (92) to 7.9 (51).
"We didn't quite play four good quarters, but we weren't far off,'' MGYCW coach Wayne Mitrovic said.
"The most pleasing thing was that we kept them to two goals after quarter-time.
"Newbridge is still a good side, so it was a really good win for us."
The move of Darby Graham into the ruck has paid dividends for the Eagles, while recruits Dylan Morris and Galen Munari played their best games of the season in the midfield.
Alex Pearson (first half) and Steve Turner (second half) combined to keep Newbridge key forward Cam Rinaldi goalless.
Too much was left to too few for the Maroons, who have slipped out of the top five.
Tyler Romeril, Sam Kennedy and a clearly restricted Jordan Gilboy were best for reigning premiers.
While Newbridge's depth is being questioned, the same can't be said for Pyramid Hill.
The Bulldogs remain the only unbeaten side in the competition after they defeated Bears Lagoon Serpentine by 50 points.
The Bulldogs continue to get solid contributions across the board.
They restricted the Bears to two goals in the first half and then opened up the game offensively with a seven-goal quarter of their own in the third term.
The in-form Bailey George and Braidy Dickens kicked four goals each in Pyramid Hill's 15.10 (100) to 6.14 (50) win.
Dylan Tonkin, ruckman Adrian Holland and the creative Billy Micevski were the Bulldogs' best players.
It was the fourth time in five games this year that the Bears have kicked more behinds than goals.
They only had five less scoring shots than the Bulldogs, but were 50 points behind on the scoreboard.
Ollie and Brodie Leonard-Shannon and Matthew Gibbs were best for a Bears' side that now has a 2-3 record.
After the inter-league break Serpentine has a season-defining three-week stretch against Marong, Newbridge and Maiden Gully YCW.
Mitiamo celebrated its 130th anniversary with a hard-fought win over Calivil United.
In a scrappy, low-scoring slog at Mitiamo, the Superoos kicked three goals to none in the final quarter to get over the line by 15 points, 8.11 (59) to 5.14 (44).
The class of Mitiamo co-coach Tyrone Downie and Calivil United recruit Jake Hall proved to the highlight of the game.
Downie kicked four goals and was the Superoos' best player, while Hall kept his side in the game with three of the Demons' five goals.
Defenders Jarryd Wiegard and Lachlan Woodward also played well for Mitiamo.
Sam Demeo and Brenton Fitzgerald worked hard for the Demons.
Mitiamo is in second place on the ladder going into the inter-league break, while the unlucky Demons are in eighth place with a 1-5 record.
Have you signed up to the Bendigo Advertiser's daily newsletter and breaking news emails? You can register below and make sure you are up to date with everything that's happening in central Victoria.