IT might have taken until the second last round of the regular season for South Bendigo to secure its finals berth but following a first semi-final win in September 2007 the Bloods were just one win way from a grand final appearance.

If they managed to clinch a win in the preliminary final South would march into its first grand final since 1995.
South scored a convincing Sunday victory by 50 points over arch-rivals Sandhurst in the knockout semi.
The Bloods coped with the blustery wind much better than the Dragons and scooted away to an eight-point advantage by the main break.
Meanwhile Eaglehawk scored a seven-point win over Gisborne in a classic second semi-final on the Saturday night to clinch a grand final spot.
Seven minutes into the last quarter the Graveyard Dogs trailed by four goals.
But they staged a tremendous fightback levelling the scores three times in a gripping last stanza, but still coach Marcus Barham was left lamenting a number of missed set shots.
The normally reliable Darren Farrugia along with 2015 coach Rod Sharp and Jason Duff-Tyler all missed goals from inside 30 metres in the second half.
Lumped together with three other easy shots muffed in the first half and Gisborne was left lamenting.
By contrast, Eaglehawk landed 11.1 in the second half.
“There was only a cigarette paper between the two teams, but the difference was that Eaglehawk took every opportunity (to goal),” Barham said.
“It was a great game between the league’s two best sides. Still, Eaglehawk was the better side tonight. You can’t miss six easy shots and expect to win.”
It seems hard to believe yet when I leaf through the results from that 2007 season I came across the results from three weeks earlier.
At the end of August Gisborne had smashed Eaglehawk by 15 goals in the concluding home and away round of the year.

SO how did Eaglehawk’s 100-point turnaround come about?
Well, part of the explanation comes down to one crucial play less than 10 minutes into the final quarter.
Eaglehawk’s 24-point lead had evaporated in the space of six minutes. Goals to Darren Farrugia (2), Ollie Messaoudi and Daniel Weaver tied up the scores.
With Gizzy holding the momentum, skipper Luke Saunders broke clear across the half-forward line.
Eaglehawk prime mover Kain Robins nailed Saunders with a match-saving tackle to earn himself a vital free kick.
Had the Dogs landed another goal to hit the front, it would have been pretty hard for the Two Blues to recover.
But from the free Robins found Derrick Filo in centrefeld and the coach chipped the ball wide to Kiel Robertson.
The speedy wingman had space and and he ran to 40 metres before calmly slotting his first goal of the night. That major steadied the Hawks.
Even though the Graveyard Dogs tied the scores again with goals to Saunders and then for the third time with Shane Davis on target --- following a fine, angled major from Gretgrix – it seemed the Robins tackle had fired the Hawks.
Of course, in explaining the turn-around from late August there had been a bit of an attitude reversal at Canterbury Park as well.
Coach Derrick Filo had worked hard on his players’ mind-sets as September rolled around and that home-and-away debacle had been firmly watered down.

SANDHURST became the latest victim of the BFNL’s “double chance curse” that September nine seasons ago.
Their 50-point first semi-final loss meant the Dragons had become the ninth club in the past 11 years to get bundled out of the finals series in straight sets.
And Hurst 2004 premiership skipper Wayne Mitrovic --- the club’s best afield in the semi-final loss --- announced he’d played his last game for the club as he intended to return to his home club Macorna in 2008.
Fifth-placed South took their winning sequence to four with the first semi-final romp and went into the 2007 preliminary final (under lights) pretty confident.
Not only did coach Rick Coburn exude confidence --- his players did, too.
So the side which was going to take on Gisborne in the second most important game of the year was a lot stronger than the one which pushed Gisborne to seven points in Rd. 7.
“We’d endured a bad run of injuries right from that string of practice matches back at the start of the season,” Coburn said.
“But we were pretty confident. So we looked at it and thought if we could get our best side out on the park we’d be able to play some pretty good footy.”
And play good footy is just what the Bloods did. They made great use of the five-goal breeze favoring the city end, posting 4.4 (28) in the first term before the Dragons opened their account.
That didn’t come until the 24-minute mark: a goal to Seamus Young.
And the Hurst didn’t do nearly enough with the wind in the second stanza. True, they booted five goals yet South full-forward Dayne Frew hammered home two majors at the non-preferred end on his way to 6.1 for the afternoon.
Dependable Dragon key defender Malcolm Borchard was again in fine form even though Frew got away on the lead every now and then. Three goals to the big Blood in the third term was the result of accurate passes to his leads.

TRAILING by 26 points at the final change the Dragons needed a big last quarter burst.
But the Bloods quickly extended their advantage when Leigh Burke nailed the first goal of the last term, at five-minute mark.
Straight after that, heavy rain tumbled down. That squelched Sandhurst’s hopes of a comeback and a total last term score of a single behind (to Matt Thornton) was never going to get the job done.
Leigh Rees was a standout for the Bloods in defence. He hauled in some strong marks, especially in the third stanza, and along with Ryan ‘Rhino’ Connaughton and Josh McLeod stifled the Hurst attack.
Skipper John Harding and James Burke rotated effectively in the ruck and as a loose man in defence while consistent midfielder Cameron Hall was again impressive around the stoppages and centre-field.
And Hall’s clearance work was particularly important early in the first term as South built up hat proved to be their match h-winning lead. Hall also booted two goals – one in the first term and another in the last.
Nevertheless the Bloods lost first choice run-with stopper Sam Doering to a knee injury in the first half while Jared Keely was a late withdrawal from the first semi-final side with a hamstring strain.

Second semi-final
Eaglehawk 5.4 9.7 16.7 20.8 (128)
Gisborne 3.4 8.8 12.12 18.13 (121)
Goals – Eaglehawk: M. Gretgrix 6, B. Filo 5, B. Herdman 2, D. Brown 2, L. Milroy, Kiel Robertson, B. Rogerson, D. Filo, R. Healey. Gisborne: A. Belcher 4, D. Farrugia 4, L. Moss 2, L. Saunders 2, R. White, R. Webster, D. Saunders, O. Messaoudi, S. Davis, J. Duff-Tyler.
Best – Eaglehawk: B. Filo, R. Healey, K. Robins, M. Gretgrix, M. O’Reilly, J. Ketterer. Gisborne: L. Moss, R. White, A. Belcher, L. Saunders, M. McKenzie, C. Summerfield, O. Messaoudi.
First semi-final
South Bendigo 4.4 6.5 9.11 13.12 (90)
Sandhurst 1.0 5.3 6.3 6.4 (40)
Goals – South Bendigo: Dayne Frew 6, C. Hall 2, M. Shadbolt, L. Burke, B. Childs, N. Clark, E. Dickins. Sandhurst: S. Young 2, L. Ruedin, M. Cornish, B. Holmes, Sam McGee.
Best – South Bendigo: Dayne Frew, L. Rees, J. Hardinge, J. Burke, C. Hall, Josh McLeod. Sandhurst: W. Mitrovic, Z. Perez, Sam McGee, T. Hartney, M. Cornish, R. Thornton.

ON THE netball courts Golden Square ended Sandhurst’s unbeaten run in the A grade competition with a three-goal second semi-final win.
Roz McEniry’s ability to read the play and anticipate Sandhurst’s passes into the attacking third gave Square the edge.
Erica Schippers and Jody Richards were on target in the goal circle for the Bulldogs although the Hurst had Meghan Atkins feeding the ball into the goal circle for the accurate Ingrid Henderson.
The Dragons fought back in the third term capitalizing on two Square centre pass turnovers for a four-goal turn-around.
Scores were level at the 12-minute mark of the final quarter before Schippers intercepted a poor Hurst pass and delivered the ball to Richards.
That goal and two more sealed the 41-38 semi-final win for Golden Square.
Quarter by quarter: Golden Square 13 23 30 41 def. Sandhurst 10 20 31 38.
In the Sunday knockout first semi-final, which went into extra time, Eaglehawk scored 15 goals to Maryborough’s 10 in the added-on period to clinch victory.
Joanna Brown and goal attack Melanie Crowe used their height in Eaglehawk’s goal-shooting area early on as the Hawks’ lead crept out to seven in the second stanza.
But when Alicia Cassidy went to goal defence her teamwork with Alicia Chadwick was crucial as the Magpies fought back. They scored six unanswered goals.
Maryborough led by a goal with 60 seconds of normal time remaining. Amanda O’Neill grabbed an intercept in the defensive third and put the ball into attack. Brown goaled to level the scores.
In teeming rain and wind squalls, Eaglehawk fought on to clinch the extra time period with O’Neill’s superb passes crucial for the Hawks.
Scores: Eaglehawk 11 25 40 50 60 def. M’borough 11 20 33 50 55.

AROUND the traps and Calivil United was celebrating its fifth consecutive LVFL flag following a 27-point senior victory over Newbridge.
And as they’d done in 2003 the Demons won the reserves and under-17 grand finals as well, to go with the senior victory, for a club treble.
Senior scores: Calivil United 16.16 (12) def. Newbridge 12.13 (85). Winning coach: Andrew Freemantle and flag-winning captain Rory Doolan. VCFL medal for best afield: Lloyd Maxted (Calivil United).
Colbinabbin set up a Heathcote DFL grand final spot with an emphatic first three quarters against Mt. Pleasant in the league’s prelim. final.
The Grasshoppers’ defence restricted Mounts to just five goals in the first three quarters while their forwards and midfielders snared 15 of their own.
Colbo was to play Elmore in the HDFL grand final at Toolleen the following weekend.
Avoca bounced into the Maryborough-Castlemaine DFL grand final with a stunning 38-point win over pre-match preliminary final favourites Carisbrook.
The Bulldogs’ win completely reversed the qualifying final result, won by the Brooker Redbacks at Hedges Oval by 19 points.
Avoca was set to meet Harcourt at Princes Park in the MCDFL decider.
And in the North Central league Charlton scored a three-goal win --- 17.14 to 14.14 --- over Birchip-Watchem in the preliminary final.

Richard’s tips for finals, Week 2:
Sandhurst by 22, second semi (Saturday night)
Strathfieldsaye by 11 points, first semi (Sunday)

By Richard Jones