By Richard Jones

 

UNDERDOGS often bob up in the white-hot furnace atmosphere of grand finals to pinch a flag.

Such was the case 30 years ago in my first season of reporting on Bendigo football after almost a decade in Port Moresby broadcasting rugby league.

 

The underdog club in question in the BFL competition was Sandhurst. In 1977 the Maroons as they were then known had to fight their way through the first semi-final and then the preliminary final to even secure a berth in the decider.

 

On the big day they outplayed Golden Square on the QEO having received a terrific morale booster before the start of the match when Sandhurst’s seconds downed Eaglehawk in the reserves grand final.

 

The Maroons’ players ran harder, finished stronger, appeared fitter and wanted victory more than the Bulldogs who were playing for their third, straight senior flag.

 

It wasn’t to be. Sandhurst had winning players on every line, most noticeably in defence where full-back Keith Cleeve was a top performer.

 

It was a toss-up for best afield in the 1977 grand final. The choice for writers and broadcasters was out of three --- Cleeve at full-back, Dave “The Painter” Wharton in the ruck or Alan Wills playing his 100th senior game on the wing.

 

In the end Cleeve got the nod from the brace of reporters and 3BO radio men.

 

THERE have been other terrific grand finals, of course. A few days short of 12 months later Mick Lenaghan kicked the 1978 sealer moments before full-time as Sandhurst downed Golden Square by three points.

 

The 1992 match between Castlemaine and the Square, with the frantic ‘biffo’ before the first bounce, was another beauty.

 

The Magpies won a cliffhanger by five points. Four years later Kangaroo Flat’s players held on by the skin of their pouches to down an inaccurate Kyneton by a goal.

 

And right at the start of the 21st century, in the year 2000 in fact, Castlemaine again had to work hard to hold off an inaccurate Kangaroo Flat by 12 points.

 

Back to 1977. The grand final was played on October 1 which was slightly unusual, but actually almost a fortnight earlier than the late decider two seasons later in 1979 ---- played in mid-October.

 

Sandhurst started slowly in the first quarter finding the extreme pressure and blistering pace hard to adjust to.

 

The Maroons were uncharacteristically fumbly and couldn’t get their game going in the first 25 minutes. The Bulldogs led 4.5 to 2.2 at the first change.

 

As the second quarter opened Hurst full-forward Robert Earl pulled in a great mark to boot the first of his six grand final goals. Rover Vin Dullard snaffled a pass from Mick Lenaghan for Sandhurst’s fourth major and then Earl pulled in the mark-of-the-day in front of his opponent Shane Rodda to level the scores.

 

Winger Alan Wills engineered the next goal when he sprinted off the half-back line and hit rover Phil Seaton on the chest with a scything 45 metre pass.

 

Before Seaton’s feet hit the ground he off-loaded a handball to Mick Lenaghan – and the Maroons hit the front with Lenaghan’s goal. By half-time Sandhurst led by four points: 6.8 (44) to Square’s 5.10 (40).

 

Sandhurst stitched up the grand final with a six-goal third quarter. Golden Square’s defence, the BFL’s tightest during the home-and-away season, fell apart.

 

Earl outmarked his opponent five times during the game and scooped up the ball, completely unattended in the goal square, to land his six goals.

 

Mick Lenaghan kept the Maroons on track with two goals in the first term and a vital one in the second. The centreline was productive right through the match with Wills (playing his 100th BFL match where he kicked his 100th career senior goal), centreman Gary Crouch and Joe Millard on the other wing very busy at both ends of the QEO.

 

But it was the defence which won the game for Sandhurst. Centre half-back Bill Burns continually punched the ball clear of Square’s Peter McConville in their marking duels while Burns’ flankers Noel Belsar and Brendan Hartney and back pocket player Peter Lenaghan swooped on the loose ball.

 

Bulldog coach Neville Strauch made many changes to get the Square firing but they couldn’t hold the eager young Maroons in the final three quarters.

 

Tony Southcombe was blanketed by Gary Kirwan. The Hurst follower continually punched the ball clear of Southcombe while David Wharton, only 20 years of age, played the game of his life in the ruck for the Hurst.

 

Good players for the Square were harder to find. Centre half-back Robert O’Connell worked hard with back pocket player Russell Kent turning in a sound first half. Peter Moroni was inaccurate shooting for goal as was half-forward Peter Fitzpatrick who finished with 0.6 for the day.

 

Garry Mountjoy was uncharacteristically quiet and was moved to full-forward by Strauch in the last quarter.

 

At the presentations after the match coach Ron Best said his Sandhurst team of “battling little Aussies” was one of the youngest ever to win a BFL flag.

 

Only three players were more than 25 years of age with the rest aged between 18 and 22, he said.

 

Final scores: Sandhurst 14.16 (100) def. Golden Square 9.19 (73).

 

ALSO on October 1st 30 years ago North Melbourne won its second VFL flag with victory in the ’77 grand final replay.

 

North’s Phil ‘Snake’ Baker was reported during the second quarter for striking Collingwood’s Shane Bond. The Magpies’ Max Richardson was flattened in the third quarter and drifted out of the game.

 

And the drawn grand final’s Magpie hero Ross ‘Twiggy’ Dunne kicked two goals in two minutes just before half-time in the replay, but the North defence smothered him for most of the game.

The Shinboner centreline of Stan Alves (a current ABC radio commentator), Xavier Tanner and Wayne Schimmelbusch was the match-winning line.

 

Final scores: North Melbourne 21.25 (151) def. Collingwood 19.10 (124).

 

RICHARD’S GRAND FINAL TIP: Eaglehawk. Progress tally: 77.