Richard Jones | Sandhurst’s glory years of 1973 and 1983 were relived at the QEO six years ago. It was a double premiership reunion for the Dragons on the eve of the 2013 side’s pivotal clash against Gisborne.

In both seasons 40 and 30 years back from 2013 the Hurst had beaten fierce rivals Golden Square with the ’73 victory snapping a 24-season premiership drought. And then the 1983 flag would be the Dragons’ last for a slightly shorter period -- 21 years -- until they saluted again in 2004.

Then known as the Maroons Sandhurst won the 1973 flag from fourth spot on the ladder after the end of the home and away rounds. It was young full-forward Ron Best’s first season as a playing coach at the Hurst and he guided them through two one-point wins in the ’73 cut-through early finals. They accounted for another old-time rival in South Bendigo by a single point in the knockout first semi-final and then by the same margin against Eaglehawk in the preliminary final.

The Maroons had trailed Eaglehawk by 28 points at three-quarter time in the 1973 season’s penultimate match. Inaccurate and perhaps over-excited the Hurst players booted 3.12 to one point in the pulsating last term. Nevertheless that one-point win handed Sandhurst a spot in the grand final against the Square which boasted big-name players such as Tony Southcombe, Mike Hammond and Peter Moroni.

Minor premiers Golden Square were chasing back-to-back flags and they carried outright favouritism into the grand final. But it was the Maroons who led all match --- holding the Square to just 4.5 in the first half -– and to rub salt into the wounds their old superstar forward Best was the difference between the two sides. Best, who’d crossed from the Square to the Hurst early in 1973, booted seven match-winning goals to take his ’73 tally to 108. Those seven majors were crucial to the grand final win, but it was Maroons’ towering ruckman Bryan Clements who was rated best afield by the media. T

he former 23-game Fitzroy follower, who stood 196 cm (6 ft 5 ins), had also joined the Maroons in 1973 after obtaining his clearance from Eaglehawk. The Advertiser grand final report stated that Clements’ “marking and long kicking were highlights of the grand final and those attributes set Sandhurst on the road to their win.” Central umpire Chapman disagreed with the media’s assessment of Clements. He awarded his best afield nod to the Maroons’ cult figure Russell Petherbridge who’d returned to his former club mid-season.

The Advertiser reporters at the QEO weren’t impressed with Chapman’s verdict. “No player tackled more vigorously or gave away more blatant free kicks because of illegal tactics, yet Chapman judged the Maroons’ ruck-rover as his best player,” the Monday report read. “But it must be said that whenever Golden Square as much as threatened danger it was Petherbridge who was in the way,” the main writer conceded. Winning coach Best said in his post-match statements it had been “a magnificent team effort” which handed the Maroons their crushing 46-point win.

“Our stars played as they really can and those players who were down in our first two finals improved significantly. “We didn’t have one bad player.” One major difference between how footy has changed in the 47 years since that 1973 play-off is to have a look at the match statistics. The two sides combined for 431 kicks but only a total of 91 handballs were fired out by the Hurst and the Square.

Apart from Best’s 7-goal tally Kevin ‘Shifter’ Sheehan added two majors while Square’s only multiple goalkicker was Milroy with a pair. Apart from Clements, Petherbridge and Best the Hurst’s other good players on the day were Brendan Keane, Peter Keogh and Peter Shanahan. Moroni was clearly the Square’s best although current BFNL chaplain Bruce Claridge also rated a mention in their best five. Final scores: Sandhurst 14.14 (98) def. G. Square 7.10 (52).

Fast forwarding a decade to 1983 and it was the Hurst’s Greg Holl who booted seven majors to lead the Dragons to a narrow victory. The two sides kicked a total of 34 goals with the Square narrow leaders by seven points at the main break. The game had it all. The Hurst’s David Collins, who finished with three majors, kicked his 100th goal for the season, there was an all-in brawl one minute into the first term --- a pre-cursor, perhaps, to the infamous 1992 first term grand final ‘blue’ between Square and Castlemaine --- and tough physical clashes right through the afternoon. Holl nailed three of his seven goals in the opening term. The pick of that trio was a tough, running shot from the boundary which pushed the Dragons to an 11-point lead by quarter-time: 6.1 to the Square’s 4.2.

The Hurst had the opening stanza advantage of the city end breeze which then aided Square’s six-goal second term blitz. Ruckman Alan Patterson and agile half-forward Terry Blaufuhs were prominent in the second term. Patterson finished the game with five goals while Blaufuhs drilled three. But perhaps the pivotal move by Dragon’s coach Denis O’Haire was to bring on speedy interchange player Bradley Gooch in the third quarter. Gooch finished with 16 kicks in his half-a-game on the QEO and was ultimately named in the Dragons’ best six.

Collins started the game on 98 goals for 1983 and his trio took him past the magical 100-goal-in-a-season performance. Ironically it was Collins who 21 seasons later would coach the Hurst to their next flag: in 2004. It was the BFL grand final’s inaugural season for the Nalder Medal and it didn’t go to Hurst goal-kicking wizard Holl. Instead it was a family member, Bill Nalder, who was the foundation recipient for best afield. He’d sparked the Dragons from the outset.

Along with Nalder and Holl on-baller Stephen Rohde, half-forward Kevin Walsh (who was later, in the 2000s, the club president) and centreman Frank Coghlan were in the top six for Sandhurst. Golden Square’s best in that 1983 play-off was a young Greg Williams. The winner of the 1982 and 1983 Michelsen Medals teenager Williams was to join Geelong in 1984, starting his brilliant VFL/AFL career which also took in stints at the Sydney Swans and Carlton. Williams had 21 kicks and nine marks for Golden Square and it was not down to ‘Diesel’ that the Square added their 1983 grand final loss to the defeat at the hands of Eaglehawk (by 79 points) a year earlier, in the 1982 decider.

Other good players for the Square included forward Leigh Gallagher, 300-game full-back Peter Davey, pacy wingman Malcolm Cowling and Patterson who battled hard against Nalder. Final scores, 1983: Sandhurst 17.16 (118) def. Golden Square 17.9 (111). Nalder Medal: Bill Nalder (Sh).