By Richard Jones

 

BACK in 1991 Eaglehawk won its first QEO finals match for three years to make it into the second week of the play-offs that season.

In the qualifying final the Two Blues accounted for Castlemaine by two straight kicks – 15.14 to 14.8 – to set up a second semi-final showdown against rampaging flag favourites South Bendigo.

Victory came at a heavy price for Eaglehawk. Tall defenders Tim Birthisel (broken leg) and Tim Dingfelder (groin) joined full-back and inter-league player Andrew McDougall (knee) on the sidelines for the second semi.

South coach Peter Bradbury was due to play his first game since June 22 while ruckman Peter Hall and rover Peter Tyack, both injured and unavailable for the August 24 Castlemaine match, were also named.

Bloods’ centre half-forward Brendan Cornell was expected to relish the warm conditions. Cornell was adept at using his pace at the base of the packs and the QEO was very firm after three days of sunshine.

For Saturday’s first semi-final, Sandhurst welcomed back Brendan Hartney (expected to play in the front half) and Peter Perez. The Maine had marking forward Michael Blake back in, plus Glen Carson, David Rath, Adrian Cole and Gary Adams on an expanded interchange bench.

 

A SENSATIONAL development overshadowed the start of the second week of the finals 16 years ago. It was reported in the Saturday Advertiser that Golden Square coach Brian Walsh had resigned.

The Bulldogs’ dual premiership-winning coach announced he had stepped down from his position, citing family reasons.

At his home on the Friday night, Walsh told me the Golden Square committee knew of his decision.

“They received my letter on Thursday night,” Walsh said.

He had been at the Wade Street kennel for five years taking the Dogs to the 1988 and 1989 flags as well as the runners-up spot to South Bendigo in 1990.

In 1991 the Square finished fifth, beaten by two points by old rivals Sandhurst in that season’s elimination final.

Walsh’s personal accolades included winning the Michelsen Medal as a Sandhurst player in 1969, representing Carlton and Essendon in the then VFL ranks and working as assistant coach at Fitzroy under Robert Walls.

When he returned to Bendigo to coach Walsh took Sandhurst to the 1985 grand final.

But back to the second week of the 1991 finals. Castlemaine went on a first semi-final scoring spree, registering no less than 32 majors with 13 individual goalscorers.

The Magpies blew the Dragons out of the water, winning the knockout final by a massive 112 points.

The last quarter was one of the longest on record for a BFL finals match. Castlemaine threaded through 12.9 at the city end while the Dragons added 6.3.

With 18 goals posted in the final term the last quarter just rolled on and on. Final scores: Castlemaine 32.25 (217) def. Sandhurst 15.15 (105).

Current BFL chief executive officer Steven Oliver booted seven goals for the Magpies while Matt Sexton – back in Sandhurst colours the past few home-and-away rounds this year --- nailed five for the Dragons.

• In a surprisingly lacklustre second semi-final after the 47-goal bonanza the previous day, South marched into its third consecutive BFL grand final with a 43-point win over Eaglehawk.

Only 17 goals were scored on a perfect spring day. Two Blues’ coach John Ledwidge installed in 2005 as the Borough Coach of the Century keenly felt the loss of key injured players, especially in defence.

Phil Hare had to fill in at full-back, but the consensus of opinion suggested that Hare wouldn’t line up on Oliver in the preliminary final.

The Bloods had great second semi-final performers in on-ballers Sean Cahoon and David Griffin, defender Stephen Dean and ruckman Peter Hall.

Final scores: South Bendigo 11.19 (85) def. Eaglehawk 6.6 (42).

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And the Bendigo and central Victorian football community faced another television drought back in 1991.

For the third time in four years it was announced there would be no telecast of the 1991 BFL grand final.

Southern Cross Network station manager Eric Pascoe said his engineering and technical personnel were flat out preparing for aggregation on January 1, 1992.

“It’s purely a matter of resources. The engineering work required for the aggregation start-up is phenomenal,” he said.

It was the third time in four seasons the BFL grand final had been played without a telecast. In 1988 the Seoul Olympics coverage meant there was no live BFL telecast, while in 1990 the feed from the Collingwood-Essendon AFL second semi-final cancelled out the local cover of the South-Square play-off.