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The 2017 season - Strathfieldsaye premiers
The 2016 season - Sandhurst premiers
The 2015 season - Strathfieldsaye premiers
The 2014 season - Strathfieldsaye premiers
The 2013 season - Golden Square premiers
The 2012 season - Golden Square premiers
The 2011 season - Golden Square premiers
The 2010 season - Golden Square premiers
THE GRAND FINAL
The sweetest of revenge for Eaglehawk.
A year after blowing their 20-point three quarter-time lead against Strathfieldsaye in the grand final, the Hawks got their redemption, blowing the Storm away to win their first flag since 2008 by 49 points in the 2018 decider.
After limping to the line the year before, this time Eaglehawk sprinted to the finish, slamming on 11 goals to four in the second half to win 19.8 (122) to 11.7 (73).
Eaglehawk ruckman Jonty Neaves produced a grand final performance that was full of pure grit and determination given what he had gone through just to get to the opening bounce.
Neaves dislocated his left elbow a fortnight earlier in the second semi-final and the initial diagnosis was not to run for six weeks - let alone even think about playing in the grand final.
But Neaves played and was best on ground, while team-mate Brodie Collins won the AFL Victoria medal.
"He was an absolute warrior today," victorious coach Josh Bowe said of Neaves.
For Bowe, it was a long-awaited premiership win with the Borough having previously endured Eaglehawk grand final defeats in 2005, 2011 and 2017.
The Hawks led by 31 points during the final term, before back-to-back goals to Strathfieldsaye's Fergus Payne and Sam Heavyside trimmed the margin back to 19 points at the 10-minute mark that kept the game alive.
But not for much longer - the Hawks booted the last five goals of the match; one of which was a ripper from Riley Saunders when he got boot to ball 20m out lying on his back after landing from a marking contest.
It was one of Saunders' two goals for the grand final, while fellow Hawk Sean Williams was the game's leading forward with a bag of five.
THE TEAMS
CASTLEMAINE
Finished - 10th (1-17)
For the third year in a row the Magpies opened their season with a round one victory over Maryborough.
But that would be the only time the Magpies sang their song in 2018.
Lost the following week to Eaglehawk by 212 points, while the season culminated with a 225-point flogging from Sandhurst at the QEO when they became the first BFNL senior team since Kyneton in 2000 not to kick a goal.
There was also another loss by more than 200 points dished out by Golden Square in a season that ended with their 17 defeats by an ugly average of 128 points.
Best player votes:
(6 for being named best; 5 for second best and so on)
Jake O'Brien - 48
Kalan Huntly - 36
Braidon Blake - 34
Top goalkickers:
Fabian Brancatisano - 12
Jake O'Brien - 9
Jack Chester - 8
.........................................
EAGLEHAWK
Finished - 1st (18-3)
Driven by a fierce desire to atone for the previous year's missed opportunity in the grand final against Strathfieldsaye, the Hawks completed their redemption.
Their 49-point grand final win over Strathfieldsaye capped an 18-3 season.
Kicked a pair of scores above 200 - 232 against Castlemaine and 207 against Kangaroo Flat - and had a tremendous spread of goalkickers, with Sean Williams (64), Gedd Hommelhoff (27), veteran Matt Gretgrix (26), Shaun Knott (24), Riley McIvor (22), Ben McPhee (22) and Sam Harper (21) all kicking 20-plus.
In his first year at the club utility recruit Jack Fallon won the best and fairest in a premiership season.
And after coaching the Hawks to the flag, Josh Bowe packed his bags soon after and headed back to Western Australia again.
Between 2014 and 2018 the Hawks progressed from 5th to 4th to 3rd to 2nd to 1st.
Best player votes:
Brodie Collins - 46
Jack Fallon - 45
Ben McPhee - 40
Top goalkickers:
Sean Williams - 64
Gedd Hommelhoff - 27
Matt Gretgrix - 26
.........................................
GISBORNE
Finished - 5th (11-8)
Gisborne's first taste of finals action since 2014 under new coach Clinton Young.
Were on shaky ground early in the season when they started 1-4 and sat eighth, but got on a roll, winning 10 of their next 13 to grab fifth spot and earn a crack at Sandhurst in the elimination final.
Lost to the Dragons by 23 points, but the September taste was another building block towards becoming a genuine contender this year.
Inflicted one of the three losses premier Eaglehawk suffered with their four-point victory in round 12 in one of the games of the season.
Best player votes:
Jack Reaper - 51
Ethan Minns - 49
Matt Goodyear - 42
Top goalkickers:
Jake Conolan - 34
Thomas Wood - 27
Jaidyn Owen - 24
.........................................
GOLDEN SQUARE
Finished - 6th (10-8)
The BFNL's 2018 finals series had a very different look about it with the rare absence of Golden Square.
The last time the Bulldogs had missed the finals was 14 years earlier in 2004, but it's not as though they dropped completely off the radar.
Golden Square had been sitting in fifth position heading into the last round, but its round 18 defeat to Kyneton, coupled with Gisborne's win over South Bendigo, consigned Square to sixth.
Despite not winning enough games to figure in September, the Bulldogs still had first and second in the Michelsen Medal in captain Jack Geary and Adam Baird.
Best player votes:
Adam Baird - 70
Jack Geary - 53
Jon Coe - 41
Top goalkickers:
Dylan Johnstone - 36
Jayden Burke - 36
Adam Baird - 27
.........................................
KANGAROO FLAT
Finished - 8th (4-14)
Second year in a row with just four wins for the Roos - a pair of victories against Castlemaine and Maryborough.
Tough year, but one of the highlights was the loyal Nick Lang reaching the 200-game milestone late in August.
And while wins were hard to come by again, the major selling point of the year for the Roos was giving a taste of senior football to eight of their under-18 players.
Best player votes:
Liam Collins - 75
Jono Lanyon - 51
Dylan Klemm - 43
Top goalkickers:
Dylan Klemm - 28
Cameron Rinaldi - 19
Corey Greer - 16
.........................................
KYNETON
Finished - 4th (12-7-1)
For the first time since 1999 the Tigers earned the double chance on the back of finishing third with a 12-5-1 record.
But they bowed out in September with barely a whimper in their two finals, losing the qualifying final to Eaglehawk by 112 points and first semi to Sandhurst by 104.
They were outscored 46 goals to 11 in their two finals, which followed the club announcing in the lead-up to round 18 that it was about $200,000 in debt and in danger of losing its senior team for the second time this decade (they were absent in 2013) if they couldn't resolve their financial issues, prompting the launch of a campaign for community support.
The two hefty losses in September by a combined 216 points still left the Tigers without a finals victory since they won the 1997 flag.
Best player votes:
Josh Govan - 51
Rhys Magin - 46
Harrison Huntley - 36
Top goalkickers:
Ethan Foreman - 58
Rhys Magin - 36
Max O'Sullivan - 32
.........................................
MARYBOROUGH
Finished - 9th (1-17)
Just like a year earlier, the Magpies' only win of 2018 come at the expense of Castlemaine when they prevailed by 23 points in round 10.
But in a sign of some improvement under new coach Ben Lavars, they cut their 2017 average losing margin of 104 points back to 72 in 2018.
Had their second Rising Star winner of the decade in Lachlan Bond.
Best player votes:
Jacob Long - 49
Luke Bucknall - 48
Coby Perry - 40
Top goalkickers:
Jordan Fraser - 22
Jayden Templeton - 18
Lachlan Bond - 12
.........................................
SANDHURST
Finished - 3rd (14-7)
Made it through to the preliminary final under new coach Andrew Collins.
The Dragons were off the pace early at 3-4 after seven rounds, but went 9-2 over their next 11 games - including an impressive 46-point win over Strathfieldsaye at the QEO - to finish fourth.
Then beat Gisborne by 23 points in the elimination final and belted Kyneton by 104 in the first semi, but were outplayed by the Storm in the preliminary by 29 points.
Daniel Connors (v Castlemaine) and Taylor Strachan (v Maryborough) both kicked bags of 10 goals on the QEO.
Best player votes:
Zeb Broadbent - 57
Andrew Collins - 55
Jake Pallpratt - 51
Top goalkickers:
Andrew Collins - 52
Daniel Connors - 33
Taylor Strachan - 25
.........................................
SOUTH BENDIGO
Finished - 7th (7-10-1)
Had the competition's leading goalkicker in Kaiden Antonowicz (76), but finished three-and-a-half games outside the top five.
Won seven games for the year, easily the best being their 15-point victory over Golden Square at the QEO when they rallied from 17 points down at half-time on the July weekend the club celebrated its 125th anniversary.
Best player votes:
Liam Bartels - 43
Isaiah Miller - 36
Brody Haddow - 35
Top goalkickers:
Kaiden Antonowicz - 76
Brock Harvey - 23
Liam Bartels - 12
.........................................
STRATHFIELDSAYE
Finished - 2nd (17-4)
A fifth grand final in six years for the powerhouse Storm, but they were unable to go back-to-back under new coach Troy Coates.
Finished a game clear on top of the ladder with a monster percentage of 225.7, but twice lost to Eaglehawk in September in the second semi-final (40 points) and grand final (49 points).
The Storm's premiership aspirations suffered a massive blow on the eve of the finals when Lachlan Sharp broke his leg against Kangaroo Flat in round 18.
Star forward Sharp had also missed eight games earlier in the year with a pair of hamstring injuries, but despite only playing 10 matches, still booted 74 goals.
Best player votes:
Kallen Geary - 47
Bryce Curnow - 37
Shannon Geary - 33
Top goalkickers:
Lachlan Sharp - 74
Bryce Curnow - 56
Fergus Payne - 39
MICHELSEN MEDAL
Golden Square's Jack Geary already boasted one of the BFNL's great resumes that is headlined by five premierships and two grand final best-on-ground medals, and now the elite midfielder added the Michelsen Medal to his collection.
Having been runner-up the previous year, Geary won the 2018 medal with 22 votes.
With Square having finished sixth, Geary became the first player from a non-finals team since Castlemaine's Wayne Schultz in 2011 to win the Michelsen.
"We've had more successful years as a club and personally, I felt. I'm quite shocked to be up here," Geary said.
RON BEST MEDAL
Just as Justin Maddern had done five years earlier in 2013, Kaiden Antonowicz won the league goalkicking in a South Bendigo team that missed the finals.
His 76 goals featured a season-high of 11 against Castlemaine in round 13 and five other hauls of at least six.
Antonowicz's 2018 goal tallies - 3, 2, 6, 4, 4, 1, 7, 4, 6, 3, 2, 2, 11, 2, 5, 7, - , 7.
2018 IN A NUTSHELL
FINAL LADDER
1. STRATHFIELDSAYE
Record - 16-2, 225.6%
2. EAGLEHAWK
Record - 15-3, 186.4%
3. KYNETON
Record - 12-5-1, 139.6%
4. SANDHURST
Record - 12-6, 191.7%
5. GISBORNE
Record - 11-7, 135.1%
6. GOLDEN SQUARE
Record - 10-8, 141.6%
7. SOUTH BENDIGO
Record - 7-10-1, 90.3%
8. KANGAROO FLAT
Record - 4-14, 52.1%
9. MARYBOROUGH
Record - 1-17, 45.0%
10. CASTLEMAINE
Record - 1-17, 23.9%
...........................................
FINALS RESULTS:
ELIMINATION FINAL:
Sandhurst 13.10 (88) d Gisborne 9.11 (65)
QUALIFYING FINAL:
Eaglehawk 22.17 (149) d Kyneton 5.7 (37)
1ST SEMI-FINAL:
Sandhurst 24.9 (153) d Kyneton 6.13 (49)
2ND SEMI-FINAL:
Eaglehawk 16.9 (105) d Strathfieldsaye 9.11 (65)
PRELIMINARY FINAL:
Strathfieldsaye 13.14 (92) d Sandhurst 9.9 (63)
GRAND FINAL:
Eaglehawk 19.8 (122) d Strathfieldsaye 11.7 (73)
...........................................
INTER-LEAGUE
Bendigo 10.13 (73) lt Hampden 11.16 (82) at Warrnambool
Best - A. Baird, K. Strachan, J. Geary, J. Reaper, B. Collins, J. Fallon
...........................................
LEADING GOALKICKERS:
(includes finals)
76 - Kaiden Antonowicz
(South Bendigo)
74 - Lachlan Sharp
(Strathfieldsaye)
64 - Sean Williams
(Eaglehawk)
58 - Ethan Foreman
(Kyneton)
56 - Bryce Curnow
(Strathfieldsaye)
...........................................
PREMIER TEAMS:
FOOTBALL:
SENIORS:
Eaglehawk
RESERVES:
Sandhurst
UNDER-18S:
Gisborne
.....................
NETBALL
A GRADE:
Sandhurst
A RESERVE:
Kyneton
B GRADE:
Sandhurst
B RESERVE:
South Bendigo
17-UNDER:
Sandhurst
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