The 2015 season

The 2014 season

The 2013 season

The 2012 season

The 2011 season

The 2010 season

Would it be a case of third time lucky for Sandhurst as it went into battle against arch-rivals Golden Square in the 2016 BFNL grand final?

The Dragons had lost the previous two grand finals to nemesis Strathfieldsaye, adding to their hunger to finally break through for their first premiership since 2004.

Sandhurst rode a 13-game winning streak into the grand final under new coach Wayne Primmer and continued its momentum, powering away to a 32-point win, 12.18 (90) to 8.10 (58).

Three years on one of the most enduring memories are the chaotic scenes at three quarter-time as the Dragons' James Coghlan took a kick after the siren from 50m at the Barnard Street end surrounded by spectators, who had spilled onto the ground in the aftermath of a melee.

Tensions erupted late in the third term resulting in reports laid against Sandhurst's Pascale Craig and the Golden Square duo of Travis Baird and Tom Toma.

Earlier, despite five more scoring shots, the Dragons - who had one stage been 0.6 - trailed by five points at half-time, 4.13 to Square's 6.6.

However, a burst of three goals in eight minutes during the third quarter from Kristan Height, Nick Stagg and Joel Wharton gave the Dragons the upper hand that they wouldn't surrender.

Six days after winning the Michelsen Medal, Dragons' star Height added the Nalder Medal alongside his premiership medal to cap an outstanding first season with Sandhurst as he more than lived up to all the hype that accompanied his arrival.

Meanwhile, having confirmed his retirement earlier in the week, there was no fairytale finish for Square's superstar on-baller Simon Rosa, who rather than a premiership medal instead had to be content with the AFL Victoria Medal.

CASTLEMAINE

Finished - 7^th (7-11)

Seven wins for the Magpies - their best return since winning nine games in 2007.

While the Magpies have spent much of this decade among the bottom rungs of the ladder, they did have a view from the top when they occupied pole position after a 70-point round one victory over Maryborough.

Produced their best winning streak of the decade with three in a row against South Bendigo (27 points), Gisborne (5) and finalist Eaglehawk (25) in rounds seven, eight and nine.

Best player votes:

(6 for being named best; 5 for second best and so on)

Tommy Horne - 68

Justin Dorward - 48

Kalan Huntly - 39

Top goalkickers:

Rhys Ford - 48

Tallan Wright - 26

Mark Ramsey - 25

.........................................

EAGLEHAWK

Finished - 3^rd (12-9)

Looked to be just making up the numbers when they sat seventh at the halfway mark of the season at 3-6.

However, a 63-point victory over Kangaroo Flat in round 10 would prove the spark for a turnaround that led the Hawks all the way to the preliminary final.

Finished fourth on the ladder before knocking over Kyneton by 55 points in the elimination final and two-time defending premier Strathfieldsaye by six points in a cracking first semi-final.

Their strong momentum looked set to carry the Hawks all the way through to the grand final when they led Golden Square by 16 points at three quarter-time of the preliminary final, but were outscored 36-1 in the first term and beaten by 19.

The end of the six-year coaching tenure of Luke Monaghan, who finished with a 69-50 record.

Best player votes:

Ben McPhee - 55

Brodie Collins - 44

Glenn Daly - 35

Top goalkickers:

Matt Gretgrix - 90

Shaun Knott - 28

Damian Wust - 25

.........................................

GISBORNE

Finished - 9^th (3-15)

The lowest finish by a Gisborne side since joining the league in 2000 - ninth.

Was always going to be a tough year for the Bulldogs given their exodus of experience that included Casey Summerfield, Tom Waters, Matt Knox, Ben Sonogan, 2012 Michelsen medallist Scott Walsh and Tim Walsh.

Scoring didn't come easy for the Bulldogs, particularly during one five-game stretch in the second half of the season where they were held to just 49, 41, 10, 30 and 40.

But looking back on 2016, it was step one for the Bulldogs on the journey that three years later in 2019 has them back in flag contention.

Best player votes:

Jarrad Lynch - 43

Eamon McKenna - 42

Nicholas Doolan - 42

Top goalkickers:

Jake Conolan - 24

Thomas Wood - 23

Jarrad Lynch - 17

.........................................

GOLDEN SQUARE

Finished - 2^nd (17-5)

Fifth grand final of the decade for the Bulldogs having earlier won the 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2013 premierships.

Had been 16 points up on Sandhurst during the grand final, but were beaten by 32 points, ending a season that had earlier opened with seven consecutive wins.

Among those first seven victories was ending Strathfieldsaye's winning streak at 39 in a row with a 24-point victory at home in round three.

Of the Bulldogs' five losses for the season, four were to premier Sandhurst.

Best player votes:

Jack Geary - 79

Adam Baird - 76

Brayden Dorrington - 38

Top goalkickers:

Dylan Johnstone - 85

Ryan Herring - 42

Tom Toma - 35

.........................................

KANGAROO FLAT

Finished - 6^th (10-8)

Spent 13 of the 18 rounds in the top five, but again, a finals berth eluded the Roos. Lost three of their last four games and ultimately missed out on finals by percentage.

Their 10 wins was the Roos' most of the decade, and like Castlemaine, 2016 also yielded the club's best winning streak of the decade.

The Roos won five in a row between rounds two and six against Eaglehawk (38), Gisborne (85), South Bendigo (15), Kyneton (34) and Castlemaine (45). Apart from that stretch, the Roos haven't won any more than two games in a row this decade.

Best player votes:

Shannon Broadbent - 32

Nick Lang - 31

Tom Holman - 29

Top goalkickers:

Cameron Rinaldi - 42

Rhys Healey - 31

Trent McInnes - 27

.........................................

KYNETON

Finished - 5^th (10-9)

Back-to-back finals appearances for the Tigers, but the year ended the same as it did 12 months earlier - beaten by Eaglehawk in the elimination final; this time by 55.

Mitch Scholard finished third in the league goalkicking with 74, while gun midfielder Rhys Magin won his second best and fairest in a row and would add to his haul again the following year.

One of the Tigers' most memorable moments of the decade came in round six when Bryce Hinneberg goaled after the siren from 40m to give Kyneton a three-point win at home over eventual premier Sandhurst.

"Once it came off the boot it felt really good and I knew it was going through. I couldn't believe it. Every player would love to do it, but you don't see it very often," Hinneberg said after his heroics.

The classy Max O'Sullivan won the league's Rising Star.

Best player votes:

Rhys Magin - 45

Josh Govan - 31

Mitch Scholard - 29

Top goalkickers:

Mitch Scholard - 74

Ben Weightman - 42

Nathan Thompson - 31

.........................................

MARYBOROUGH

Finished - 10^th (0-18)

Appointed former Ballarat inter-league coach Shane Skontra to take the reins, but the outcome was the same as the year before - winless.

The Magpies' average losing margin was 123 points, with the closest they got to any opposition being the 26 points they lost to Gisborne by in round 17.

They outscored Gisborne 26-14 in the third and 26-19 in the fourth term that day - the only two quarters the Magpies won for the year.

Best player votes:

Ethan Crackel - 48

Matt Johnston - 43

Coby Perry - 43

Top goalkickers:

Andrew Siekai - 26

Jacob Rollason - 9

Jayden Templeton - 9

.........................................

SANDHURST

Finished - 1^st (18-2)

Premiership No.28 for the Dragons, who put consecutive grand final defeats to Strathfieldsaye behind them to capture the flag in Wayne Primmer's first season as coach.

The Dragons were 4-2 after six rounds and then went on a tear, winning their next 12 home and away games by an average of 65 points to finish a game clear on top of the ladder and then fixed up Golden Square in both the second semi-final (53 points) and grand final (32).

Had five players ranked in the Addy Top 20 - Michelsen medallist Kristan Height (No.3), captain Blair Holmes (10), Codie Price (13), Joel Wharton (14) and ruckman Tim Martin (18).

Best player votes:

Kristan Height - 65

Blair Holmes - 39

Joel Wharton - 34

Top goalkickers:

Kristan Height - 44

Nick Stagg - 36

Joel Wharton - 33

.........................................

SOUTH BENDIGO

Finished - 8^th (5-13)

Won just two of their first 15 games, but finished the season with some momentum with three on the trot.

Ruckman Kieran Strachan won his second best and fairest in a row and later in the year earned a berth in Essendon's VFL squad - and two years later would be on the Adelaide Crows list.

Best player votes:

Kieran Strachan - 37

Blair Whelan - 34

Aaron Connaughton - 32

Top goalkickers:

Leroy Miller - 23

Liam Bartels - 16

Isaiah Miller - 13

.........................................

STRATHFIELDSAYE

Finished - 4^th (14-4)

Given they played in grand finals in 2013 (loss), 2014 (win), 2015 (win), 2017 (win) and 2018 (loss), the 2016 season is somewhat of an outlier for the Storm.

Having been 10-1 after 11 rounds the Storm certainly looked on track to be right among the thick of the action at the business end of the season again - even without gun forward Lachlan Sharp, who had torn his ACL earlier in the year on the same day Strathfieldsaye had its 39-game winning streak ended by Golden Square.

But after finishing third on the ladder were bundled out in straight sets, losing the qualifying final to Golden Square by 54 points and first semi to Eaglehawk by six.

Best player votes:

Kallen Geary - 75

Shannon Geary - 40

Trent Donnan - 39

Top goalkickers:

Shannon Geary - 31

Jake Hall - 31

Harry Conway - 22

Boom Sandhurst recruit Kristan Height had already won the Ovens and Murray league's Morris Medal, Goulburn Valley league's Morrison Medal and then added the Bendigo league's Michelsen Medal in 2016.

A three-vote performance in the final round against Kyneton clinched Height victory by one vote from Strathfieldsaye's Kallen Geary.

Height won with 24 votes in what was Sandhurst's third Michelsen Medal of the decade following Tim Martin's back-to-back wins in 2013 and 2014.

Golden Square recruit Dylan Johnstone capped his first season at Wade Street by winning the league goalkicking with 79, while six more in the finals - including four in the grand final - took his year-end tally to 85.

Booted nine hauls of at least five goals, but didn't kick Square's biggest bag - that was Ryan Herring, who slotted 12 in a 207-point win over Maryborough.

Johnstone's goal tallies - 4, 2, 1, 5, 5, 6, 4, 2, 6, 4, - , 7, 6, 3, 8, 7, 5, 4, - , 2, - , 4.

1. SANDHURST

Record - 16-2, 208.8%

2. GOLDEN SQUARE

Record - 15-3, 208.7%

3. STRATHFIELDSAYE

Record - 14-4, 165.9%

4. EAGLEHAWK

Record - 10-8, 136.7%

5. KYNETON

Record - 10-8, 112.1%

6. KANGAROO FLAT

Record - 10-8, 107.9%

7. CASTLEMAINE

Record - 7-11, 87.4%

8. SOUTH BENDIGO

Record - 5-13, 81.6%

9. GISBORNE

Record - 3-15, 515%

10. MARYBOROUGH

Record - 0-18, 27.8%

...........................................

ELIMINATION FINAL:

Eaglehawk 20.9 (129) d Kyneton 11.8 (74)

QUALIFYING FINAL:

Golden Square 15.8 (98) d Strathfieldsaye 6.8 (44)

1ST SEMI-FINAL:

Eaglehawk 9.15 (69) d Strathfieldsaye 9.9 (63)

2ND SEMI-FINAL:

Sandhurst 13.8 (86) d Golden Square 4.9 (33)

PRELIMINARY FINAL:

Golden Square 11.13 (79) d Eaglehawk 9.6 (60)

GRAND FINAL:

Sandhurst 12.18 (90) d Golden Square 8.10 (58)

...........................................

Bendigo 17.8 (110) d Gippsland 12.7 (79) at QEO

Best - T. Donnan, B. Conforti, J. Geary, D. Johnstone, C. Ryan, T. Toma

...........................................

(includes finals)

90 - Matt Gretgrix

(Eaglehawk)

85 - Dylan Johnstone

(Golden Square)

74 - Mitch Scholard

(Kyneton)

48 - Rhys Ford

(Castlemaine)

44 - Kristan Height

(Sandhurst)

42 - Cameron Rinaldi

(Kangaroo Flat)

...........................................

FOOTBALL:

SENIORS:

Sandhurst

RESERVES:

Sandhurst

UNDER-18S:

Strathfieldsaye

.....................

NETBALL

A GRADE:

Kangaroo Flat

A RESERVE:

Golden Square

B GRADE:

Kangaroo Flat

B RESERVE:

South Bendigo

17-UNDER:

Gisborne

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