SANDHURST held off a surging Gisborne in the final quarter to win Saturday's Bendigo Football Netball League senior premiership. or signup to continue reading For the second year in a row BFNL fans were treated to a grand final that went down to the wire, with Sandhurst this time on the right end of the result. Last year the Dragons desperately tried to chase down Golden Square, but fell agonisingly short, going down by six points.
Twelve months on the role was reversed as the Dragons clung to the lead in the final quarter and in a tense last term that lasted a tick over 34 minutes held on to win by four points, 10.8 (68) to 10.4 (64) at the QEO.
The win capped a premiership trifecta for the Dragons, who earlier in the day won both the under-18s and reserves flags also. Sandhurst captain Lachlan Tardrew put the icing on what will go down as one of the great individual seasons in BFNL history by ending the day with both a premiership and the Nalder Medal for best on ground around his neck to accompany the Michelsen Medal he jointly won six days earlier. And team-mate Lachlan Wright also had two medals around his neck post-match, earning the AFL Victoria Medal for his game in defence where he was a constant thorn in the Gisborne side throughout with his intercept marking.
Ultimately, it was the second and third quarters - both against and with the wind - that proved decisive in the Dragons' victory. The Dragons were on the back foot at quarter-time when despite kicking with the breeze to the city end they went into the first break seven points down. The Bulldogs - who brought Jarrad Lynch into their selected side from Thursday night for Patrick Trotta - led 3.
1 to 2.0 and their big guns such as midfield dyanmos Brad Bernacki and Flynn Lakey and star forward Pat McKenna were all firing. The Gisborne lead skipped out to 14 points when McKenna kicked the first goal of the second term before Lakey missed a set-shot at the 10-minute mark.
At that stage the Bulldogs had the game on their terms and the Dragons were needing a spark. It came when defender Isaac Carracher stuck a tackle on McKenna, who was about to drive the Bulldogs into attack, and won a holding the ball free-kick. It was that free-kick that set the wheels in motion for Matt Wilkinson to kick a steadying goal for the Dragons and would signal a shift in momentum.
After being well beaten at stoppage in the first quarter the Dragons stabilised clearances as the engine room of Tardrew, James Coghlan, Noah Walsh and co got to work, while co-coach Bryce Curnow across half-forward was busy and Wright in defence was holding firm. Against the breeze the Dragons outscored the Bulldogs 2.2 to 1.
1 during the second quarter and went into half-time with a two-point advantage, 4.4 to 4.2.
As well as the Wilkinson goal the Dragons' other second-term major was slotted by Jake McLean when he converted a 25m set-shot on an angle - not an easy kick into the tricky breeze. The third quarter is well known as the "premiership quarter" and certainly lived up to its moniker for Sandhurst as the Dragons made their move. The Dragons kicked the first three goals of the third quarter through Harrison Free, who nailed a beauty from 50m, Lachie Hood with another long-range shot and Joel Wharton, who fought the game out after injuring his hamstring early.
There was also a goal kicked by Tardrew that was disallowed after Sandhurst's Fergus Greene gave away a free-kick against Gisborne defender Zach Vescovi in the goalsquare. At that stage the momentum was squarely with the Dragons, who had kicked five goals in a row as what had been a 14-point deficit had become a 21-point lead and the challenge was being laid firmly down to the Bulldogs, who had to respond. The run of five Sandhurst goals in a row was ended by a nice piece of front and centre work from Gisborne's bandaged Matt Merrett, but it was immediately followed by one of the plays of the day.
From the following centre ball-up Tardrew - whose ability to extract the ball from clearance was outstanding as it has been all season - took possession, burst out of the square, had one bounce and launched from 48m: the consummate captain's goal. It was Tardrew's second goal having earlier kicked his first in the opening term. And when McLean was on the end of a perfectly weighted kick from Greene from 70m to run into an open goal for his second the Dragons were well in command.
The five-goal to one third quarter gave the Dragons a 27-point buffer at the final change as they led 9.7 to 5.4.
One of the big questions heading into the grand final was how telling would Gisborne's fresher legs be given the Bulldogs had the previous week off while the Dragons had to go to the limit in their 10-point preliminary final win over Strathfieldsaye? The Bulldogs didn't waste time eating into their 27-point margin. Inside the first three minutes of the final term they had kicked two goals through Lakey and Merrett. Lakey's was one of the goals of the day with a brilliant snap from deep in the pocket, before Merrett converted a set-shot.
For the following 12 minutes the Dragons did a superb job of forcing stoppage after stoppage, while Cobi Maxted, who started the term as a +1 in defence, was crucial in helping keep the Bulldogs at bay. But the Bulldogs kept coming and at the 15-minute mark the margin was reduced to nine points when a kick inside 50 from captain Jack Reaper - named Gisborne's best ahead of fellow defender Liam Spear - was marked by Harry Luxmoore, who goaled as Sandhurst led 61-52. Two minutes later Greene provided one of the highlight moments of the grand final when hard-as-nails midfielder Coghlan - who was one of the Dragons' best on the back of a stellar preliminary final last week - drove the ball high inside 50.
Greene soared and took the mark of the day 20m out and seemingly had the grand final resting on his boot. If he kicked it to get the margin back out to 15 points it looked mighty tough to see the Bulldogs recovering, but he pulled his kick to the left and missed. Greene, though, would have his moment soon after when the ball spilled to ground after a marking contest, he crumbed it and goaled - his 83 of the year - to give the Dragons a 68-52 lead.
Again, though, the Bulldogs wouldn't wilt and just as Sandhurst had done against Golden Square 12 months year, Gisborne kept coming. McKenna kicked his third goal at the 25-minute mark and when 18-year-old James Gray after winning a holding the ball free-kick showed poise beyond his years with a 50m set-shot that pierced the middle of the goals, the Bulldogs were within four points as the clock ticked past 31 minutes. From the following ball-up Sandhurst's Walsh won the clearance, but the Bulldogs' Spear won the ball across half-back and cleared to the pool side wing where it went out of bounds.
From a stoppage the Bulldogs' Dylan Johnstone kicked Gisborne to half-forward where from a stoppage Sandhurst ruckman Connor Sexton received a free-kick for an infringement against Zac Denahy. Sexton kicked to the wing where Greene hauled in a strong contested mark, kicked backwards to Curnow, who passed to Dayten Uerata, who had the final kick of the game as the siren sounded with the ball on the wing at the 34:10 mark as the Dragons completed their season of redemption. J.
McLean 2, L.Tardrew 2, H.Free 1, F.
Greene 1, J.Wharton 1, M.Wilkinson 1, L.
Hood 1, D.Uerata 1. P.
McKenna 3, M.Merrett 2, H.Luxmoore 1, B.
Bernacki 1, R.Bourke 1, F.Lakey 1, J.
Gray 1. L.Tardrew, L.
Wright, J.Coghlan, N.Walsh, B.
Curnow, C.Maxted. J.
Reaper, L.Spear, M.Lord, Z.
Vescovi, F.Schipano, J.Ainsworth.
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