SPEARHEADS dominated round 9 a decade ago with the performance of South’s Dayne Frew the talking point of the midway point of 2006.

Frew nailed 15 goals against Kangaroo Flat in a career best effort. It was a day out for Dayne!

The Bloods didn’t seem to notice their leading goalkicker, Luke Beattie (now Kyneton coach), had been sidelined as Frew finished with 15.6 in a scintillating effort.

Frew was the standout in South’s 106-point belting of the Roos at Dower Park.

Elsewhere, key forwards also had good days although they weren’t quite as prolific as Frew.

Matt ‘Toooley’ O’Toole drilled eight majors for the Square against bottom club North City at the Northies’ Austar Arena.
Meanwhile Gisborne’s Michael Dillon booted six majors as the Graveyard Dogs accounted for Sandhurst by 61 points while ‘Big Bundy’ Steven Reaper landed five goals for Kyneton with the Tigers breaking a winless streak of four matches in their home clash against Maryborough.
The ladder was taking a definite shape. Reminiscent of last season in the BFNL by mid-year exactly a decade ago there were the top three clubs, followed by the middle four with three battling to stay out of the cellar.
Gisborne, South and Golden Square all sat on 8 wins and 1 loss and separated between first and third only by percentage.
Then followed Eaglehawk (5 wins, 4 losses) and Sandhurst (4 wins, 4 losses, 1 draw) inside the Top Five.
Next were Castlemaine (4 and 5) and Kyneton (3 and 5, one draw) in sixth and seventh spots and still on the radar as possible finalists.
Tailing off were the bottom three: Maryborough (three wins), Kangaroo Flat (one win) and North City (still to open their account).

BUT back to Frew and South’s big day against the Flat. It was just his third game of the 2006 season in Red and White with the full-forward praising the work of his midfielders.
“The midfielders and on-ballers did really well as they won a heap of the centre breaks,” Frew said after the match.
“And we’re pretty versatile up forward. There’s Leigh (Burke), Marty (Shadbolt) and John (Hardinge) as well as me and Luke,” he added.
Frew’s best quarter was the third when he nailed six majors.
The Roos blew their chances in the opening term. They had plenty of opportunities but managed just seven behinds – and that was the end of the ball-game!
The Flat went to the long break with an atrocious total of 1.13 to South’s 10.5 so they’d virtually matched the number of scoring shots garnered by the Bloods.
The home side’s accuracy improved after half-time – and it needed to. The Roos finished with a score of 7.20 but the Bloods registered 43 scoring shots with Frew contributing almost half of that total with his 21 (15.6).
The Bloods banged home 10.6 in a dominant third stanza ant went to the last change leading by close to 17 goals.
The Flat improved in the final term, adding 4.5, but the Bloods finished off with 7.5 as Frew took his total past the even dozen with 15 to his name by final siren time.
Kangaroo Flat sorely missed coach Damien Brown and key position player Luke Freeman, both sidelined through suspensions.

THE closest game of the round was at the Camp Reserve where Eaglehawk scrambled home by two points.
The Two Blues led by 26 points early in the last quarter before Castlemaine unleashed a desperate last surge of four, straight goals to almost clinch the four, premiership points.
Coach Derrick Filo had moved himself into the centre early in the opening term. He combined with veteran ruckman Nick Heath to win a lot of the first half centre breaks.
The Hawks scooted out to an early three-goal lead with Brad Rogerson, Travis St. Clair and 2015 Ron Best Medallist Matt Gretgrix capitalizing on the midfield supremacy.
Although Jarrod James got one back for the Maine Eaglehawk surged again as Phil Lobb, Linton Jacobs, Kain Robins and Gretgrix all split the middle with the visitors out to a six-goal lead.
Then Filo’s worst nightmare closed in again. As it had done so often in the 2006 season Eaglehawk’s run and intensity dropped off and the Magpies added goals to Calvin Philp, James O’Brien and Lachlan Brown.
At half-time Maine playing coach Ian Martin exhorted his players to lift their pressure and running game. The Magpies responded with a four-goal third term.
Just three goals separated the clubs at the last break. Brock Bouch, David Taylor and O’Brien all won a lot of midfield possessions as ruckman Guy Marshall pushed forward to present an extra target in attack.
Magpie skipper Chris Jardine broke one tackle, eluded a second Hawk and passed to Marshall. The big man calmly nailed an important Castlemaine major.
Two more from Taylor and Michael Thomas reduced the gap to eight points. Marshall’s fourth of the day slashed the deficit to two points with a fair bit of time left on the clock.
But neither side could snare a six-pointer in the frantic, last few minutes as Eaglehawk sneaked home.
In the final analysis it was Lobb’s early last quarter for the Hawks which got the visitors the four premiership points.

IN the other matches North City’s Cameron Brown was reported for allegedly kicking Square’s Matt Tyrell at Austar Arena.
The Bulldogs went on a scoring rampage with an emphatic first half. The Square had 15.14 on the board by the long break to the Northies 4.5.
North City responded with a six-goal third term – sparked by Dean Romeril’s effort in the forward line --- but Aaron Hawkins dominated across half-back and got loose in attack, finishing the day with four goals.
Playing coach Darren Walsh sparked his side at three-quarter time and the visitors added 12 last stanza goals as O’Toole, Hawkins and Walsh himself (4 goals for the match) were unstoppable in the Square front half.
O’Toole sat atop the goal-kicking table with 45 majors after nine rounds.
Kyneton got off to a sound start against Maryborough with a six-goal-to-one first quarter.
Chad Walker and Brad Else were also productive in attack, along with Reaper, while the return of on-baller Mark Scerri added pace to the Tiger midfield.
Maryborough added seven goals to Kyneton’s five in the final term to finish with a respectable scoreline. Stewart Crameri (now with the AFL’s Bulldogs) booted four goals while Cameron Skinner and Dylan Clarkson added three each.

GISBORNE led all day at the QEO against Sandhurst and by half-time had cleared out to a 26-point advantage.
Dillon nailed five of his six goals in the opening quarter in a red-hot display. Known early in his career as a midfielder, in 2006 Dillon was creative as a mobile centre half-forward.
Luke Saunders finished the day with five goals and small forward Darren Farrugia nailed three.
For the Dragons current Strathfieldsaye skipper Shannon Geary was the stand-out but because of his Bendigo Bomber affiliation wasn’t available come finals time --- if the Hurst made it.
Geary and Mark Fitzgerald booted three goals each for the Dragons.
Final scores: Eaglehawk 14.7 (91) def. C’maine 14.5 (89), South Bendigo 27.16 (178) def. Kang. Flat 7.20 (62), Golden Square 33.27 (225) def. North City 12.11 (83), Gisborne 21.15 (141) def. Sandhurst 11.14 (80) and Kyneton 17.19 (121) def. Maryborough 13.16 (94).

THE Brees led the way for the Flat in the A grade netball clash against South at Dower Park.
Bree Esparon and Bree Ferrari were the Roos’ best in a 40-29 victory over the Bloods. South’s most important players were Maddie Crow and Justine Connaughton.
It was a vital win for the Flat, on the rebound from a draw against Golden Square in Rd. 8.
In other A grade matches North City lost to the Square 18-78, Kyneton went down to Maryborough 33-72, Sandhurst defeated Gisborne 72-31 with Shelley Barclay the Dragons’ best and Eaglehawk, led by Nikki Baines, downed Castlemaine 46-34.
That left the Top Five in A grade netball as Square, Sandhurst, Flat, Maryborough and Gisborne. Eaglehawk was in sixth spot, a game adrift of Gisborne but with a better percentage (113 to 101).
North City and Kyneton were at the bottom of the ladder with just the one win between them. The Northies were the team with the solitary victory.

Richard’s tips for Rd. 9: Eaglehawk by 34 pts. (vs. C’maine), Gisborne by 17 (vs. South Bendigo), Golden Square by 58 (vs. Maryborough, Princes Park), Sandhurst by 40 (vs. Kang. Flat) and Strathfieldsaye by 51 (vs. Kyneton, Monday).
Tips total for 2016: 34.

By Richard Jones