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benflTHE Sandhurst Jayco Dragons marked Matt Sexton’s 250th senior game for the club with a 68-point belting of fierce rivals South Bendigo in a 2002 winter clash.

The Hurst midfield and rebounding half-backs Rick Andrews, Kieran Prowse and Chris Giri were in charge all afternoon as they provided heaps of opportunities for forwards Toby Cardew, Ben and Matt Sexton and Russell Weekley.

At the first break the Dragons had leapt to a four-goal lead and the defence held the Bloods to just three majors when they had the wind in the second term.

Six goals to four in the third period just about wiped South out. Andrews fed off follower Matt Keown’s clever tap outs and even a classy goal from South’s Cameron Carter left the Bloods 43 points down at the last change.
Even though the breeze had died a little, South could manage just 1.1 in the final quarter as the Dragons landed four majors against it.
Coach Mark Ellis was delighted with the win and especially for Matt Sexton’s milestone. He described the victory as Sandhurst’s “best to date” in 2002.
South coach Peter Tyack hoped his players would rebound for a big match --- fifth vs. sixth --- in the coming round against Kangaroo Flat.
Of course Matt Sexton went on to play a stellar 305 senior games for the Dragons until his retirement in late 2007.

AROUND the grounds and Castlemaine’s big men and key position players dominated against Kangaroo Flat at Dower Park.
Mark Oxley and David Cox were in charge in the ruck, Steven Oliver, Michael Blake and Adrian Conn took many marks in attack while Trevor Bell was a lynch pin in the Magpie back half.
By half-time the Magpies led by just 10 points --- 9.8 to 7.10 --- but eight goals to four in the second half to the Maine was the difference.
The Flat did look a lot better in the last term with Nick Evans booting three quick goal but a third from Oliver’s boot sealed the Green and Whites’ fate.
The Roos ended the fixture with injury concerns. Troy Rodda (concussion), Shannon Milward (ankle) and coach Derrick Filo (knee) were in doubt for the coming week’s vital clash against South.
The Magpies notched their fourth victory for ’02. They were still in eighth spot although only one game behind fifth-placed South and the Flat (6th), and equal on points with Eaglehawk (7th).
The Top Five was Gisborne, Maryborough, Golden Square, Sandhurst and South.
Final scores: Sandhurst 18.13 (121) def. Sth. Bendigo 9.5 (59), Castlemaine 17.14 (116) def. Kang. Flat 11.15 (81), Gisborne 24.15 (159) def. Eaglehawk 12.4 (76) and Maryborough 18.10 (118) def. G. Square 11.9 (75).

EAGLEHAWK senior coach Brian Teasdale sounded a dire warning to rival BFL clubs and the league board after Gisborne had dished out an 83-point hiding to the Hawks.
Teasdale said the Graveyard Dogs looked set to dominate the league for many years to come.
Speaking less than 24 hours after his side had copped their thumping Teasdale said in his opinion the Bulldogs could only get stronger.
“I think it’s alarm bells time for the BFL,” he said.
“You look at them [Gisborne] now and they’re on top of all three grades of football and they’re only going to get stronger.
“Because they’re so close to Melbourne they’ve got a huge recruiting advantage over the Bendigo-based clubs, especially.
“They’ve also got the money to employ a full-time coach. They’re really not a country club,” said Teasdale.
Former Collingwood, Richmond and Western Bulldogs forward Aaron James was the star in Gisborne’s big win, booting 10.8.
“He’s a class above the BFL. James is fresh out of the AFL system and he’s got all the tricks of the trade an AFL forward has gathered.
“He knows how to ‘legally’ get rid of an opponent before the ball arrives .... none of the Bendigo umpires can pick him up on it.
”When you look back on it, he probably should have kicked 15 against us.”

WITH their win the Graveyard Dogs moved three games clear on top of the BFL ladder but only after Maryborough returned to its best form with a seven-goal win over Golden Square on the Saturday night.
It was a continuation of Maryborough’s unblemished home record in 2002 and following successive losses to the Hurst and the Flat they needed the win to consolidate second spot on the ladder.
The Princes Park Pies lifted themselves up to second on the ladder on percentage over the Square. When they opened up a six-goal break in the second quarter, while holding the Square to just the one major, it looked curtains for the Dogs.
But Matt Dillon and Shaun Fletcher were on target as the Dogs slammed home six unanswered majors mid-third term to trail by only eight points at three-quarter time.
Jamie Bond, on top in the ruck, sparked the Magpie resurgence in the last term and with Marc Cassidy (5 goals for the match) on fire up forward Maryborough booted 7.4 to 1.5 in the final stanza to win by 43 points
Square coach Brian Walsh took heart from the fact spearhead Jarrod Loring, returning from a leg injury, notched five goals in the Twos and he was due to resume in the seniors for the home game against the Maine.

NETBALL was played on the old sloping QEO carpark at the city end a decade-and-a-half ago and there were just six competing clubs in A grade.
In blustery wind top team Sandhurst was too good for Raelene Baker’s South Bendigo and won: 45—31.
Wing defence player Brooke Bolden was unstoppable early for the Hurst and her combination with centre Angela McLoughlan was a winning pairing.
But Justine Connaughton’s accuracy and Carly Wehsack’s assistance under the goal ring helped South level the scores just before quarter-time.
Sandhurst broke away in the second term thanks to goalshooter Shelley Cail and playing coach Meredith Strachan and by the half the Hurst led 27—18.
With goal defender Leigh Briggs making some key interceptions for South in the third term the Bloods stepped up. But the Dragons had moved goalkeeper Jarilee Higgs to wing defence and at the last change Sandhurst led 38—25, thanks to a goal on the three-quarter time whistle.
Emily Keown replaced the injured Meredith Strachan for the final quarter and with the accurate Shelley Cail under the ring the Hurst scored enough to win by 14.
Meanwhile Kangaroo Flat scored a percentage-boosting victory over Eaglehawk at Dower Park.
The Flat won 61—15 on a windy and bleak afternoon. Mkichelle Atherton scored 13 second quarter goals while the defence held Eaglehawk comfortably.
Lia Marrone scored 10 last quarter goals for the Roos with coach Carol Bingham agreeing the wind had ruined many scoring opportunities for both clubs.
Maryborough landed a big win over Golden Square, 57—39.
Ladder (only six A grade clubs in 2002): Sandhurst 9 wins, 1 loss; Kang. Flat 7—3, Maryborough 6—3, Golden Square 5—5, South Bendigo 1—8 and E’hawk 0—8.

MEANWHILE more than a year later -- in mid-October 2003 -– the BFNL had ruled out Sunbury as the league’s 10th club.
The Lions had been suspended that very week from the Ballarat Football League for one year for bringing the game into disrepute following a review of incidents stemming from the 2003 Ballarat grand final.
Bendigo chairman Mark Johnston told the Advertiser his board would hold discussions with the then VCFL before the October 31 cut-off date about the possibility of a 10th club.
“We’ll be conducting this process through the VCFL. We may not go direct through other leagues and maybe not through our own clubs either,” Mr. Johnston said.
Even though suspended, Sunbury held the right to apply for a transfer to another league but such a move required the full support of the VCFL board of directors.
The Lions retained the right to appeal the Ballarat F.L. board’s decision. However by mid-October 2003 such an appeal looked increasingly unlikely.
Mr. Johnson more or less put the kybosh on the Sunbury move.
“It really is in the wrong geographical area for us,” the BFL boss said.
“In term of geography and the belief that Gisborne is as far south as our league ought to extend .... Sunbury is moving away from a country-based footy league when you get closer to Melbourne than Gisborne.”

THE search for a 10th club wasn’t over, though. Clubs appearing to fit the BFL’s 100km radius of Bendigo clause, and definitely country-based, were Daylesford, Seymour, Moama and even former BFL entities Rochester and Echuca.
Nevertheless Seymour, a member club of the powerful Goulburn Valley F.L., had already expressed no interest whatsoever to Mr. Johnston and his board while Moama --- in the Murray F.L. in 2003 --- only just fitted into the BFL’s set travel distance.
“But Moama would start to stretch out that travel distance when you talk about our existing clubs Gisborne, Maryborough and Kyneton and how far they’d have to go,” the chairman said.
As we know now the Strathfieldsaye Storm became the BFNL’s 10th club, but that was a long way off when the Sunbury issue was being discussed in 2003. The Storm joined for the start of season 2009 and beat Castlemaine before a huge crowd in their very first BFNL fixture.
They’ve played off in the last three BFNL grand finals and won the 2014 and 2015 flags.

Richard’s tips for Rd. 12: Strath Storm, Sandhurst, Kyneton, South Bendigo and Golden Square.
Updated season total for 2016: 46.

By Richard Jones