GOLDEN Square president Steve Sharp called on the BFL to investigate an all-in melee after the first weekend of the finals had been completed eight seasons ago.

It all came about following a massive brawl in the Saturday night qualifying final involving South Bendigo and Gisborne players.
Even though Sharp’s Bulldogs had completely blitzed Maryborough the following day in 2008’s Sunday elimination final, the Wade Street boss wanted the league to ask some pertinent questions about the Saturday biffo.
To add fuel to the fire the umpires laid no reports, despite the flare-up which meant several players from both clubs had to leave the field through the blood rule.
“People remarked to me after the qualifying final it was the worst incident they’d seen in 10 years of footy,” Sharp said.
“Guys from both sides were clearly hit and hit hard, and some had to have stitches inserted.
“If the league is fair dinkum, there needs to be some consistency in what they do to investigate and what they don’t. We copped it last year with a range of suspensions.
“We appealed the decision which cost us a lot of money ($5000) and it was upheld.
“At Square we had a bloke last week (Jason Griffin) who said the wrong thing and copped four weeks for it. The BFL has to have a fair dinkum look at this melee (the qualifying final melee) and do something,” Sharp added.
In 2007 three Square players --- Aaron Hawkins, Matt Tyrrell and Dillon Anderson --- were rubbed out for a total of 10 weeks after a BFL investigation ordered the trio, plus South’s Julian Lake, to front the tribunal.
That order came about following an all-in melee in a Square-South home and away match in early August 2007. The tribunal case was held 38 days after the match had been completed.
Lake was eventually suspended for three matches which would have eliminated him from the ’07 BFL finals. But three days later the suspension was reduced to a severe reprimand by the VCFL Appeals Board while Square went on to successfully appeal the charges against Hawkins, Anderson and Tyrrell.

OUT on the QEO the Square played some of their best footy for 2008.
The Bulldogs handled the heavy conditions much better than Maryborough setting up a big 68-point win with a sparkling first quarter.
After the Magpies had booted the opening goal Square used the wind to land 15 scoring shots in the following 25 minutes. Fortunately for Maryborough, Golden Square was inaccurate in front of goal, snaring 5.10.
Veteran Darren Walsh, who left the field later with a calf injury, was the principal offender with 1.4 to his name.
And then after the Dogs had speared home the opening two goals of the second term --- into the wind on a dismal day, weather-wise --- Maryborough’s fate was sealed.
It was really Square’s running ability, and backing-up, which was the difference between the two teams.
James Walsh (three goals), Mark Lloyd and Shaun White impressed while 31-year-old Nick Carter (3 goals) and 33-year-old Aaron Hawkins showed there was plenty of life left in their ageing legs.
Michael Bateman continued on with the great form he’d shown throughout 2008 while younger Dogs Brayden Dorrington and Adam Baird performed strongly in their first senior BFL final.
The only negatives for Golden Square were the calf injury to Darren Walsh, Luke Rosa’s hamstring and Lachie O’Toole (knee).
Rosa had been super impressive in the past month eight years back, but seemed unlikely to play in the following week against South in the first semi-final.
Square coach Mark Adamson said his players had been pretty confident heading into the knockout final.
“But when you see those sort of wet conditions there’s always a bit of trepidation there,” he said.
“We’d beaten Maryborough comfortably enough through the year so we knew if our players played anywhere near their capabilities we’d probably win the final.
“Over the four quarters we were first to the ball. Gisborne gave us a good lesson in that a few weeks ago and to our players’ credit they’ve learnt from that and used it well in this final,” Adamson said.

MARYBOROUGH coach Glenn Fisher said the late withdrawal of skipper and premier midfielder Joel Malone had been a blow, but he didn’t use the unavailability of his captain as any sort of excuse.
“We knew we coming up against a big-bodied and very mature side,” he said.
“But we thought the wet conditions might have brought us into the game a little bit more. But in the end it probably suited Golden Square better.”
Fisher added it was pleasing to see the Magpies win the last quarter -– they landed 3.5 to 1.1 --- and he marked that down as a positive.
Maryborough had only a handful of good players on the day with forward Matt Brown standing out. Brown booted five of the Magpies’ seven goals taking his 2008 season tally to 56.
That placed him third on the BFL senior goalkicking table, level with Square’s Chris Carter who nailed two goals in the Sunday game.
Young midfielder Matt Johnston --- back with the Magpies in 2016 after two seasons with Strathfieldsaye --- was also good but there weren’t many others.
Young gun Darcy Richards, who was a premiership player with North Bendigo in 2015, was reported late in the elimination final for alleged rough play against Square’s defender Anthony Holdstock.
After improving from five wins in 2007 to seven wins from their 18 games the Magpies jumped into the 2008 finals.
Fisher said in the off-season he’d be looking for a centre half-back, a full-back and a couple of good on-ballers. Plus he was hoping his troublesome knee complaint would be fixed over the summer so he could continue as a playing coach in 2009.

SOUTH Bendigo registered the second lowest score in a final --- 3.6 (24) --- since 1981. The lowest was Sandhurst’s 3.4 (22) against the Bloods who booted 8.10 (58) to win 1993’s second semi.
On a sodden QEO Gisborne managed 22 scoring shots but slotted just the six goals in a match which was a slog from start to finish.
But the Graveyard Dogs played much smarter wet weather footy than South in 2008’s qualifying final. They set up a second semi clash against Eaglehawk, a match-up which was the league’s biggest in the late Noughties.
For the Saturday night spectators the rain and slush also had one other side-effect.
The anticipated shoot-out between the BFL’s two leading goalkickers --- Jordan Barham of Gisborne and South’s Dayne Frew --- didn’t eventuate.
It was a non-event. Barham kicked one goal, Frew didn’t kick any.
Neither player took a mark and, indeed, Frew ended up playing full-back on Gisborne’s Richard White. But it wasn’t a night for forwards --- just six marks were taken inside 50 for the entire night.
The Graveyard Dogs got a jump on the Bloods in the first stanza. They consistently soccered the ball off the deck to move the ball forward at any cost.
Gun midfielder Gareth Bowes set the tone early on. He always seemed willing to get in first in packs to get the hard ball.
And Gisborne held the Bloods to just two behinds between the seven-minute mark of the second quarter and the 16-minute mark of the last.
During this period Gisborne added 2.9 with the goals coming from running shots from outside 50m by Stewart Hamilton and Shane Davis.
Both shots skidded through on the greasy QEO turf.

Qualifying final
Gisborne 3.5 4.10 4.13 6.16 (52)
South Bendigo 1.2 2.4 2.5 3.6 (24)
Goals -– Gisborne: D. Farrugia 2, S. Hamilton, C. Summerfield, J. Barham, S. Davis. South Bendigo: Shaun Bergin 2, N. Clark.
Best -– Gisborne: G. Bowles, S. Hamilton, M. Fitzgerald, S. Comerford, M. McKenzie, C. Summerfield. South Bendigo: E. Dickins, R. Connaughton, D. Jones, J. Hardinge, R. Coburn, N. Clark.

Elimination final
Golden Square 6.11 10.13 16.16 17.18 (120)
Maryborough 2.0 4.5 4.5 7.10 (52)
Goals --- G. Square: N. Carter 3, J. Walsh, 3, D. McLaughlin 2, C. Carter 2, C. Malone 2, A. Baird. M. Klein-Breteler, M. Lloyd, D. Walsh, S. White. Maryborough: M. Brown 5, M. Johnston, C. Rinaldi.
Best --- Golden Square: J. Walsh, D. McLaughlin, S. White, A. Hawkins, M. Lloyd, L. Rosa. Maryborough: M. Brown, M. Johnston, S. Fisher, G. Chadwick, C. Skinner.

KANGAROO Flat and Eaglehawk were the winners in the A grade netball finals.
Both sides had been stung by losses to lower-placed clubs in the final round, round 18, of the 2008 home-and-away season.
The Saturday night qualifying final was one of the lowest scoring in the history of the Bendigo Football Netball league. It was wet and windy on the Bendigo Aquatic Centre court.
Just 39 goals were registered as the Roos hopped into a second semi-final showdown against Golden Square with their win.
Final scores: Kangaroo Flat 23 def. Sandhurst 16.
The Dragons led 3—2 at the first break but it wasn’t until the third quarter that the Roos included Sarah Fern and Rebecca Hynes into their attack.
The Flat chose to continue with the shorter pass option in mid-court and a six-goal blitz by Hynes in the last quarter sealed the Flat’s victory.
Eaglehawk ended Gisborne’s season with a 15-goal victory in the Sunday elimination final.
Final scores: Eaglehawk 43 def. Gisborne 28.

Richard’s tips for finals,
Week 1: Golden Square (vs. Strath Storm, qualifying final, Sat. night)

Eaglehawk (vs. Kyneton, elimination final, Sunday afternoon)

By Richard Jones