Bendigo Advertiser | The Mean Machine won a hard-fought contest 18.14 (122) to 15.9 (99) at Laser Plumbing Bendigo Oval, making its move during the second quarter when it kicked eight goals with the wind.
However, equally as telling for Mean Machine coach Marc Lindsay was the third quarter when his side was only narrowly outscored 4.2 to 3.2 by the Superoos when they had the use of the breeze.
“It was a physical, evenly-contested game and that’s what you’re going to get when you’re battling for top spot, so we’re rapt to come away with the win,” Lindsay said.
“We had a good second quarter with the wind and were able to hit the scoreboard, but I also thought our third quarter against it was really good. We held up well against it and that was really important to set the game up.”
The Mean Machine – who haven’t been beaten since the corresponding round five last year – had 10 goalkickers, led by five from Ben Galea and three to Luke Milroy in his first senior game for the club.
Galea was named the Mean Machine’s best, while captain Zeb Broadbent was again pivotal through the midfield and must be looming as the early-season pace-setter in the Harding Medal.
While beaten, Mitiamo chairman of selectors Rowan Warfe said the Superoos would take plenty of positives out of the contest having pushed the six-time defending premiers, despite a torrid day injury-wise.
The Superoos lost Nicholas Whitfield (dislocated ankle), Chris Dale (knee), Andy Grant (hamstring) and Nolan Maher (suspected punctured lung) throughout the match.
“The boys will take a bit of belief out of today, especially with what ended up a fairly depleted bench that didn’t help,” Warfe said.
“The boys fought it right out until the end. We were a bit disappointed with a few decision-making errors, but Bridgewater is a side that just keeps grinding away and put us under a lot of pressure.”
The Superoos’ three best players were all defenders – Ben Bacon, James Drake and Dylan Clohesy.
Down the other end, coach Justin Maddern again showed his class with a haul of seven goals.
Maddern’s bag of seven was the most kicked by a player against Bridgewater since Nic Balic booted seven for Calivil United in round 14, 2010.
“I thought Justin was fantastic… he had a couple of blokes hanging off him all day and he just kept working and took some nice marks and kicked some nice goals,” Warfe said.
• Newbridge ended a string of three disappointing performances in a row to defeat Bears Lagoon-Serpentine by 39 points.
The Maroons held the Bears to just one goal in the first half in their 13.16 (94) to 7.13 (55) win at Karee Wool Riverside Oval.
“It’s obviously good to get the four points after it was feeling like we had lost what it felt like to win there for a while,” Newbridge coach Matt Dillon said.
“We looked more lively today and it helped bringing back in a couple of guys, Caleb Argus and Sam Kennedy, who we’ve really been missing.
“We still had flat spots during the game and didn’t run it out as well as we would have liked, but it was certainly a lot more positive.”
Dylan Gibson (four) and Chris Dixon (three) were the chief goalkickers for the Maroons, who had Lachlan Ford (two goals) and William Daly their two best.
The Bears outscored the Maroons 3.4 to 1.2 in the final term in a positive finish to the game, with their best players led by Charlie Gadsden and the experienced duo of Josh Hutton and Andrew Gladman.
• Pyramid Hill defeated YCW for the 12th-straight time, winning 15.18 (108) to 5.5 (35) at Mitchell Park.
The Bulldogs kicked away in the second quarter when they booted seven goals to one with the breeze, setting up a 38-point advantage at half-time.
“We made the most of our scoring chances in the second quarter, but probably got a bit wasteful after half-time (7.9),” Bulldogs coach Brad Fawcett said.
Ruckman Trent Barri, who kicked two goals, was the Bulldogs’ best player.
“Trent was fantastic in the ruck again. He’s getting first hands to the footy and has been really consistent for us so far,” Fawcett said.
In his first game of the season, Michael Callinan had an immediate impact through the midfield.
“Having his big body through the middle of the ground really helped us today,” Fawcett said.
Billy Micevski and Nathan Fitzpatrick kicked three goals apiece for the Bulldogs, who are now 2-2.
YCW’s score of 5.5 was the second week in a row the Eagles have managed just five goals.
Dooley Niemann kicked three of the Eagles’ five goals, and was one of their best, along with Cohen Kekich and Liam Collins.
• Marong overcame a 23-point half-time deficit to run over the top of Inglewood at home.
The Blues looked on track for back-to-back wins for the first time since 2008 when they led 9.7 to 6.2 at half-time.
However, the Panthers rallied with eight goals to one after half-time to win 14.13 (97) to 10.12 (72) – their third win on the trot.
Kyle Manley, Lachlan Frankel (three goals) and Justin Bateson were the better players for the Panthers, who in the past two weeks have conceded just 14 points in second halves.
Zach Raeburn, Jordan Ashby (three goals) and Logan Popple led the best players for the Blues in one that got away.
