LVFNL DECADE REVIEW - Bears Lagoon-Serpentine
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WHEN Bridgewater entered the Loddon Valley league's new decade in 2010, it did so with a premiership drought stretching back almost 20 years to 1991.
Yet the dawning of a new decade would usher in an era of Mean Machine dominance that will go down in Loddon Valley folklore as Bridgewater set a new league benchmark for consecutive premierships won.
Remarkably, the Mean Machine won seven consecutive premierships between 2010 and 2016, easily making Bridgewater one of country Victoria's most successful clubs of the decade with an overall winning percentage of 81.5.
The dominance of Bridgewater constantly turned grand final day into an anti-climax - the Mean Machine's seven grand finals were won by a combined 489 points.
The only margin under 50 points of the Mean Machine's seven flags in a row was the eight points they defeated Bears Lagoon-Serpentine by in a cracking grand final in 2013.
Throughout their seven-year run of premierships the Mean Machine won 118 of 127 games, were 15-0 in finals and spent 93 rounds on top of the ladder, while also producing four Harding Medal winners - Adam Parry (2013 and 2014), Andrew Collins (2015) and Zeb Broadbent (2016).
Brad Rohde (2011 and 2012), Alex Collins (2013) and Andrew Collins (2015) also won league goalkicking awards during the Bridgewater premiership years, which came to an end in 2017 when the Mean Machine lost the grand final to Calivil United.
Then came consecutive years out of the finals in 2018 and 2019 to end the decade.
As they say - all good things must come to an end.
Throughout the remarkable run of 2010-16 success 54 players played in Bridgewater premiership teams, including Rohde, who topped the Mean Machine's decade goalkicking with 426, Daniel Nalder, Darren Clutton and Deon Jones, who were part of all seven.
Despite having a season at both Sandhurst (2018) and Natte Bealiba (2019) during the 10-year timespan, midfielder Zeb Broadbent, who played in six flags, was the Mean Machine's top-ranked player of the decade with 263 best player votes, followed by fellow premiership captain Clutton (226).
YEAR-BY-YEAR:
2010
defeated Calivil United in grand final
Finished - 1st (17-1)
Most best player votes:
Zeb Broadbent - 30
Leading goalkicker:
Brad Rohde - 80
............................................
2011
defeated Pyramid Hill in grand final
Finished - 1st (17-1)
Most best player votes:
Anthony Baker - 32
Leading goalkicker:
Brad Rohde - 87
............................................
2012
defeated Newbridge in grand final
Finished - 1st (15-2-1)
Most best player votes:
Alex Pollock - 36
Leading goalkicker:
Brad Rohde - 75
............................................
2013
defeated BL-Serpentine in grand final
Finished - 1st (16-3)
Most best player votes:
Adam Parry - 46
Leading goalkicker:
Alex Collins - 109
............................................
2014
defeated BL-Serpentine in grand final
Finished - 1st (18-0)
Most best player votes:
Zeb Broadbent - 54
Leading goalkicker:
Brad Rohde - 58
............................................
2015
defeated Mitiamo in grand final
Finished - 1st (17-1)
Most best player votes:
Andrew Collins - 74
Leading goalkicker:
Andrew Collins - 58
............................................
2016
defeated Mitiamo in grand final
Finished - 1st (18-0)
Most best player votes:
Zeb Broadbent - 77
Leading goalkicker:
Ben Galea - 51
............................................
2017
lost grand final to Calivil United
Finished - 2nd (13-6)
Most best player votes:
Xavier Henderson - 50
Leading goalkicker:
Alex Collins - 76
............................................
2018
Finished - 7th (7-9)
Most best player votes:
Joe Mayes - 37
Leading goalkicker:
Darren Clutton - 45
............................................
2019
Finished - 7th (7-9)
Most best player votes:
Liam Jacques - 53
Leading goalkicker:
Alex Powell - 54
BEST PLAYER VOTES:
1 - Zeb Broadbent
Votes: 263
Times in best: 61
Top 3: 43 No.1: 20
............................................
2 - Darren Clutton
Votes: 226
Times in best: 62
Top 3: 32 No.1: 13
............................................
3 - Brad Rohde
Votes: 143
Times in best: 40
Top 3: 21 No.1: 8
............................................
4 - Daniel Nalder
Votes: 139
Times in best: 40
Top 3: 18 No.1: 5
............................................
5 - Marc Lindsay
Votes: 130
Times in best: 38
Top 3: 17 No.1: 5
............................................
6 - Zac East
Votes: 120
Times in best: 33
Top 3: 20 No.1: 4
............................................
7 - Adam Parry
Votes: 116
Times in best: 33
Top 3: 17 No.1: 8
............................................
8 - Josh Metherell
Votes: 114
Times in best: 35
Top 3: 13 No.1: 5
............................................
9 - Deon Jones
Votes: 113
Times in best: 34
Top 3: 15 No.1: 3
............................................
10 - Callum Prest
Votes: 111
Times in best: 28
Top 3: 18 No.1: 8
TOP 10 GOALKICKERS:
1 - Brad Rohde
Goals: 426
High: 10 Games: 109
5+: 40 10+: 1
............................................
2 - Alex Collins
Goals: 281
High: 10 Games: 69
5+: 26 10+: 1
............................................
3 - Ben Galea
Goals: 179
High: 6 Games: 98
5+: 4 10+: 0
............................................
4 - Darren Clutton
Goals: 175
High: 9 Games: 69
5+: 9 10+: 0
............................................
5 - Zac East
Goals: 173
High: 7 Games: 73
5+: 8 10+: 0
............................................
6 - Andrew Collins
Goals: 126
High: 9 Games: 31
5+: 10 10+: 0
............................................
7 - Zeb Broadbent
Goals: 106
High: 9 Games: 62
5+: 3 10+: 0
............................................
8 - Marc Lindsay
Goals: 82
High: 5 Games: 50
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
9 - Josh Metherell
Goals: 80
High: 5 Games: 45
5+: 1 10+: 0
............................................
10 - Alex Powell
Goals: 76
High: 9 Games: 24
5+: 4 10+: 0
HEAD-TO-HEAD:
v BL-Serpentine
Record - 20-5
............................................
v Calivil United
Record - 17-5-1
............................................
v Inglewood
Record - 20-0
............................................
v Maiden Gully YCW
Record - 16-4
............................................
v Marong
Record - 18-2
............................................
v Mitiamo
Record - 19-4
............................................
v Newbridge
Record - 16-6
............................................
v Pyramid Hill
Record - 19-6
DECADE RECORD:
Played - 178
Won - 145
Lost - 32
Drawn - 1
Winning % - 81.5%
Average for/agst - 114/64
Seasons in finals - 8
Finals record - 17-1
Premierships - 7
RESERVES:
Total wins - 106
Seasons in finals - 6
Premierships - 4
............................................
UNDER-18S:
Total wins - 86
Seasons in finals - 5
Premierships - 0
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