EAGLEHAWK coach Derrick Filo was quick to hand his charges a dose of reality after the Hawks’ impressive 103-point thumping of co-Top Five side Sandhurst a decade ago.

It was early August 2006 and the Borough supporters were starting to talk ‘premierships’.
Filo’s charges had posted their third impressive win in a row yet Filo was very mindful of his players ‘not getting ahead of themselves’.
Even so, media pundits were quick to point out that five of the 2005 grand final side were still running around in the Twos and with three more on the injured list and raring to return Filo had to ensure there’d be no complacency.
“My players can’t afford to cruise,” the coach was quick to emphasise.
“We might have a handy list but 29 doesn’t go into 21, no matter how you look at it.”
Filo conceded that Paul Eyles, Scott Tuddenham and Kirk Eddy were still injured. “Plus there’s some guys in the Twos who have been playing some really good footy,” he said.
“So there’ll be a lot of pressure for positions in the senior team as the finals approach,” Filo stressed.
All that pressure for spots in the Hawks’ starting line-up seemed to be paying off as Eaglehawk’s Rd. 15 win was clearly the best of the club’s 10 wins in 2006.

SANDHURST’S playing stocks were down a fair bit for the Eaglehawk clash.
The Dragons were missing established stars in Wayne Mitrovic, Seamus Young and Mark Fitzgerald, but the Hawks made them look second-rate in an astonishing first 15 minutes.
Eaglehawk piled on five, unanswered goals in the opening quarter-of-an-hour with Matt Gretgrix in charge at centre half-forward.
The G-Train took five marks, nailed two goals and was involved in two more goal assists in that first stanza burst.
And although the 2015 Ron Best medallist nailed five snag rolls, he was outscored by Filo. The Two Blues coach hammered home seven goals.
It was ‘game over’ by the long break. Eaglehawk led 12.3 to 4.2.
It was more of the same in the second half as the Two Blues added 10 goals to one to grind the Hurst into the QEO turf.
While the goalscorers collected their share of kudos, the Eaglehawk back six were inspirational. Jayden Dole, Wayne Burchell, Luke Hartley, Brady Herdman, Josh Ketterer and skipper Ben Hynes let only five goals through for the entire afternoon.
As well as shutting down the Sandhurst forward line, Hynes and Co. provided a lunching pad for numerous forward thrusts by the Hawks.
Filo said afterwards Eaglehawk had a multi-pronged forward structure.
“This week it was Matt’s and my turn. Next round it could be Lobby and Travis (St. Clair) who get a bag each. So our structure is working well and hopefully it’s making it harder for other clubs to stop us,” the coach said.
Sandhurst coach David Collins, who’d led the Dragons to the 2004 flag, said it was difficult to pick good players.
“Midfielders Luke Carter and Travis Fitzpatrick battled hard, but overall it was just one of those days that we’ve got to try and forget about.
“Our form leading into the game had been pretty good, but we just had a day where everything went completely wrong,” Collins explained.

IT was a much closer affair at the Camp Reserve where Castlemaine trailed ladder leader Gisborne by only 11 points at the last change.
In a round where all five winning clubs posted totals of 110 points or more, Gisborne’s was one of the lowest of the successful teams.
Nonetheless it took a concerted effort in the last term for the Gardiner Reserve Dogs to break clear of the Maine.
With skipper Luke Saunders (5 goals for the day) and Michael Dillon (3) in command in their front half, the Dogs added 7.5 to 4.4 in the tense, final quarter to win by 30 points.
Magpie coach Ian Martin, re-appointed at the end of Rd. 14 to take the Maine into season 2007, said he reckoned his side had lost the game rather than Gisborne winning it.
“We didn’t play too badly but probably turned the ball over too much, especially in that last quarter. Overall I reckon we gifted them between six and eight goals on the day through turnovers,” Martin said.
Gisborne coach Marcus Barham said his side had gone to the Maine expecting a big game.
“We’d got Luke and Michael back after they’d played for the VCFL at the country footy championships which was good because the Maine play their own ground very well,” he said.
“It’s hard to get yourselves up for a game where you’re expected to win, but by the end of the day I thought we played very well under the circumstances.”
Gisborne’s better players included onballers Daniel Sipthorp and Matt Fitzgerald, half-back Cameron Medica, wingman James McFarlane along with Saunders and Dillon.
Barham missed the game through suspension.
Better players for the Magpies were ruckman Guy Marshall, forward Glen Carson (3 goals), wingman Adam Culvenor and defender Luke Docherty.

GOLDEN Square hung onto third ladder position with a comprehensive victory over a young Kyneton side.
The Bulldogs were super consistent over the four quarters, landing 13 goals in each half. But playing coach Darren Walsh said he thought his charges had been a lot better in the second half.
“Kyneton kicked nine goals with six of them coming from free kicks 20 metres out,” he said.
“I’d reckon that says something about how well our backline played. And Tooley (Matt O’Toole) kicked eight goals and has jumped clear to the front in the goal-kicking stakes,” Walsh added.
In the race for the Ron Best medal O’Toole had 60 goals for the 2006 season, well ahead of second-placed Phil Lobb of Eaglehawk on 44.
Matt Tyrell played his best game for 2006 at full-back, Wes Pye battled hard in the ruck against the Tigers big Jock Allan, Matt Klein-Breteler landed four goals while Brendan Fraser made a promising return with two goals.
He’d been sidelined for two months with an abdominal strain.
Senior joint captain Adam Bovalino played well in the reserves, continuing his return from a broken arm suffered in a pre-season game.
Best for the Tigers were Allan, midfielders Brent Dryden and Craig Williams, Ben Edmonds who started in defence but was later shifted up forward to kick three goals and Harvey Edmonds.

ELSEWHERE Kangaroo Flat scored their third win of the season accounting for North City by three goals in a shoot-out while South Bendigo bounced back to top form with a huge win over Maryborough.
The Northies fell just short of winning their first senior BFNL game.
They led the Roos by one point at the 20-minute mark of the final term before Kangaroo Flat booted the concluding three majors of the game.
With just three rounds to play a decade ago it seemed as though the Northies would become the first BFNL side since the Roos in 2003 to go through a season winless.
North City coach Shane McCarty told the Advertiser his boys were “gutted”.
“They knew they should have won the game. We played a better brand of footy for three quarters, but in that last one we just couldn’t find the big sticks,” he said.
The Northies trailed by just five points at the last change. Then they kicked three out-of-bounds on the full while shooting for goal and registered only 1.7 in the final term as the Roos added 4.2.
Although indicating in July a broken foot would end his season, Roo coach Damien Brown played and booted five match-winning goals.
His long 45 metre shot in the final term put the Flat back in front. Trent McInnes and Aidan Moore added the sealers.
North City had good players in ruckman/forwad Eddie Den Ouden, Jake Young off half-back, Cameron Richardson and Ben Beatson.
Travis Thatcher and Cameron Milward booted three goals each for the Flat. Young ruckman Hamish Dahl was in charge of the ball-ups, midfielder Matt Harrington and key defender Luke Freeman were also good along with pacy Travis Stevens.

SOUTH Bendigo recovered from a 46-point loss to Eaglehawk in Rd. 14 with an eight-goal-to-two opening term at Maryborough.
Dayne Frew ended up bagging eight goals for the Bloods with Luke Beattie adding three. Beattie’s tally should have been higher --- he ended the day with 3.6.
Best on ground was rebounding defender Ryan ‘Rhino’ Connaughton in his 100th game for South. Maryborough’s best was youngster Luke Mathews who had the tagging job on South coach Danny O’Bree. Reed Wills was Maryborough best in front of the big sticks, with three majors.
Final scores: Eaglehawk 22.11 (143) def. S’hurst 5.10 (40); Gisborne 17.16 (118) def. Castlemaine 13.10 (88); Sth. Bendigo 26.22 (178) def. Maryborough 9.9 (63); Kangaroo Flat 16.17 (113) def. North City 13.17 (95) and G. Square 26.17 (173) def. Kyneton 9.7 (61).
Top Five: Gisborne 13 wins, 2 losses, 52 premiership points; South Bendigo 12, 3, 48; Golden Square 11, 4, 44; Eaglehawk 10, 5, 40; and Sandhurst 8, 6, 1 draw, 34 points.

ON THE netball courts Golden Square bolstered their A grade percentage with an 81-29 mauling of bottom club Kyneton.
Lia Marrone, Kate Schippers and Jess Scott were best for the Bulldogs in their mammoth victory while Kathryn Battersby was best for the Tigers.
Kangaroo Flat scored an ever bigger victory over North City with an 81-11 thumping of the Northies. Bree Ferrari and Jo Brown were the Flat’s best.
Castlemaine was well in the contest early against fifth-placed Gisborne but wilted in the second half as the Dogs won 55-39 while Sandhurst had a 64-36 win over Eaglehawk.
In the remaining A grade netball fixture --- the closest of the round --- Maryborough scored a nine-goal win over South Bendigo: 43-34.
Cindy Cossar and Alisha Chadwick were Maryborough’s best while for South Leah Walsh and Tegan Elliston were named as the pick of South’s list.
Back to the Gisborne—Maine game and Gisborne’s best were goal shooter Virginia Bennett and goal defence player Sarah Lawless while Castlemaine had standout players in goal defence player Chelsea Williams and goal shooter Jane Leinhop.
A grade Top Five after 15 rounds: Golden Square 13 wins, 1 draw 1 loss (54 points); Sandhurst 13—2 (52); Kangaroo Flat 12-1-2 (50); Maryborough 10—5 (40) and Gisborne 7—8 (28).

Richard’s selections for Rd. 15:

Kyneton, Eaglehawk, Castlemaine, Golden Square, Sandhurst.
Running total for 2016: 57

By Richard Jones