Bendigo Advertiser | AT the risk of being accused of applying to be Mitiamo’s No.1 ticket-holder or kicking Bears Lagoon-Serpentine while they are down, let me preface this by saying I have no bias for or against these two clubs.
But for the sake of grand final day next week, the Loddon Valley needs Mitiamo to win this weekend’s preliminary final against the Bears.
Even legendary promoter Don King would have a tough time next week to create a grand final buzz if the Bears are the team to go through to take on Bridgewater for the 2015 flag.
Bridgewater v the Bears is a match-up that in their past two finals meetings has produced a combined margin of 204 points in favour of the Mean Machine.
The Mean Machine beat up on the Bears by 108 points in last Saturday’s second semi-final, while a year ago they played out one of the most anti-climatic ends to a season in the grand final when Bridgewater cruised to a 96-point victory to win its fifth premiership in a row.
I recall in the lead-up to last year’s LVFL grand final when the undefeated Bridgewater was as red-hot a favourite as there has been for a country footy flag referencing the 1980 “Miracle on Ice” and that in sport, anything is possible.
But you have to wonder whether after last Saturday’s demolition job and the carnage of last year’s grand final that if the Bears do win the preliminary final they would genuinely go into the flag decider believing they are capable of taking it up to the Mean Machine on the big stage and making it a contest.
The Mean Machine have been a constant source of pain for the Bears going back to the 2013 second semi-final when Bridgewater came from 35 points down at three quarter-time to win by one point, and then two weeks later beat them again by eight points in the grand final to deny them a flag in a season where they had finished two games and 51 per cent clear on the top of the ladder.
While most believe the LVFL premiership cup can be engraved with Bridgewater’s name already – they are $1.07 for the flag with Sportsbet – at least Mitiamo would go into the grand final without the mental scars of past finals misery against the Mean Machine that the Bears carry and it would provide the league with a fresh match-up for the flag.
If the Superoos can get through to the grand final, it would also mean they go into it on a high on the back of four wins in a row – three cut-throat finals victories, plus beating YCW in round 18 – and having produced two reasonable home and away efforts against Bridgewater, with their losing margins of 42 and 37 points well under the Mean Machine’s average winning margin for the season of 84 points.
But first the Superoos have to get past the Bears – a club they haven’t beaten since 2011.
