If you look up finals entrée in the AFL dictionary, it will likely have a picture from Saturday's clash between Eaglehawk and Golden Square.
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The two premiership contenders fought tooth and nail for every inch, but it was the Bulldogs who eventually prevailed 7.9 (51) to 6.11 (47) in arguably the most hotly contested game of the BFNL season so far.
Trailing by eight points at the last break, the Bulldogs kicked three goals in the opening 12 minutes of the final term, which proved decisive in the low-scoring affair.
The Hawks shot themselves in the foot twice, with Ricky Monti pouncing on a loose ball to set up Joel Brett's third goal and Lachlan Humphrey intercepting an errant Hawks kick before running to the 50 arc and slotting a team-lifting major.
"The message after the game was, we were slightly better in the big moments," Bulldogs coach Chris Carter said.
"They troubled us, but we found a way to grind out the four points with some huge wins in 50-50 contests late in the game."
Hawks coach Travis Matheson agreed that those critical skill errors in the clinches were the difference between the sides.
"I thought there was too much risk with the way we shifted the footy at a moment we didn't need to, and that's a great learning opportunity for us," Matheson said.
"We gave ourselves enough chances to win the game, but we failed to make the most of it and credit to Square, they held firm."
Trailing by ten after Humphrey's individual piece of brilliance, defender-turned-forward Clayton Holmes bobbed up after some great work by Liam Marciano on the far wing to bring the margin back within a kick halfway through the stanza.
Holmes looked like he could be the matchwinner but poor entries in the dying embers were costly.
"Clayton (Holmes) has been begging me to go forward for five years, and I finally caved in," Matheson said.
"He was dangerous, but we didn't utilise him well enough with how we kicked the footy in."
The Hawks had their moments, with Ben Thompson missing a gettable set shot at the 18-minute mark.
While they were able to keep getting deep entries, it was the best look-in they would have with the Bulldogs able to saturate the contest and not allow the Hawks to get any flow in their ball movement.
Jayden Burke had the chance to ice the game with 30 seconds left, but his shot sailed wide to give the Hawks one last foray from the ensuing kick-in.
With the kick going straight down the guts, Burke atoned for his error, taking a strong contested grab in the centre circle as the siren sounded seconds later.
Carter was pleased with how his side closed out the match.
"We train scenarios a lot, and the last two minutes, we made a couple of changes to save the game, including putting Burke forward, and it paid off with him taking a couple of crucial marks," Carter said.
The Hawks had to play a man down for most of the second term, and early in the third after young key forward Samuel O'Shannessy received a yellow card.
O'Shannessy had just kicked his second goal to put the Hawks back in the lead but was sent off after an ensuing scuffle.
Matheson was proud of how his boys responded but said there was a chance it might have cost his side the win.
"Anytime you go down a man, it's going to be tough to win, but I thought we were superb to stem the flow over an extended period," Matheson said.
"Whether we ran out of legs due to it is hard to say, but it's a big penalty to wear for an incident like that."
It was the Hawks' fourth loss by under six points in 2023, and while understandably disappointed, the ferocious nature of the match will hold the Hawks in good stead come finals, according to Matheson.
"That game reflected what the finals will be like," Matheson said.
"It was tough to get open ball movement, and it shows both sides can stack up to that level of pressure.
"Obviously, it's a very disappointing result, but that's footy, and we saddle up again still very much full of belief our best is as good as anyone.
"It doesn't change our path moving forward, as we've got another opportunity to clinch top three next week."
Jack Hickman (23 possessions) and Tom Toma (31 possessions) were brilliant for the Bulldogs, while Hawks defender Charlie Langford continued his superb form with 30 disposals.
John Coe and Zack Shelton down back were also instrumental in the Bulldogs' triumph, with Shelton taking game high five intercept marks from his 23 disposals.
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