GOLDEN Square's outstanding full-forward Grant Weeks is poised to etch his name into Bendigo Football League history. Needing four goals in Saturday's senior grand final against Gisborne to pass a goalkicking record which has stood since the Great Depression, Weeks has the footy world on the edge of their seats.
In the 1933 season Eaglehawk's gun spearhead Frank Crapper booted 163 goals: 154 in the regular season and nine in that season's finals.
Weeks needs four on Saturday afternoon to pass Crapper's haul. He has booted 160 goals this year, with 148 in the 18 home and away rounds and 12 in the finals series to date.
He was held by Sandhurst to just four goals in the qualifying final, but bounced back with eight (8.7 in fact) against ladder-leading club Gisborne in the second semi.
The 24-year-old has booted 447 goals in just 58 games for the Square and played in two premierships.
Weeks has twice been named as an All-Australian after dominating displays at the 2010 and 2012 Australian Country Football Championships series.
And he's passed the ‘ton' comfortably for the Bulldogs in both his flag-winning seasons at MyJet Oval, as well as in 2012.
I remember a winter day in 2010 when Square was playing Castlemaine at the Camp Reserve, now known as countrycars.com.au Oval.
The full-forward was on 94 goals needing just six, obviously, to get to 100 majors for the year.
Weeks nonchalantly snagged the six he needed well before three-quarter time.
A bevy of Golden Square supporters ran onto the ground to congratulate him.
But Weeka wasn't finished! He slotted another eight sausage rolls for good measure, to finish the day with 14 and a running tally of 108 with plenty more games to go.
It was Round 12, played at a freezing Camp Reserve on July 3rd, 2010.
THE first time that season I saw the big spearhead slip into the double figures was at Tannery Lane in June. He nailed 12 snag rolls that day against new club Strathfieldsaye. It was Round 10.
He finished 2010 with 145 majors in the home and away rounds, to top the overall VCFL goalkicking table for the season.
Then he added another 12 in the finals series.
That gave him 157 majors all up.
He backed up last year with 130 majors as Square won its third flag in a row, the second premiership medallion to go with his two Ron Best medals as leading goalkicker for Grant Weeks.
Last Monday night he accepted his third, straight Ron Best Medal for the 148 goals he'd hammered through in the home and away games.
NOT only is the gun full-forward very strong with his overhead marking, he's great in getting himself into the correct position for a mark.
And Weeks' ability to win the ball at ground level is better than other great modern-day BFL full-forwards Steven Oliver (1021 goals, Castlemaine) and Steven Reaper (810, Kyneton, Gisborne).
Perhaps only Ron Best, who snared 1624 BFL goals with Sandhurst, Golden Square and Northern United and topped the century 12 times, stands with Weeks in his ability to trap the ball once it had hit the deck.
And then spin around and nail a major.
Best and Oliver came lose to passing Crapper's record, but both fell short.
Now it's a farmer from Colbinabbin who is poised to etch his name into the fabric of history in one of country Victoria's greatest leagues.
Weeks' tallies in the past four years:
2009: 124 for Colbinabbin in the Heathcote District Football League
2010: 157 for Golden Square
2011: 130 for Golden Square
2012: 160 for Golden Square, with the grand final total to be added on Saturday night.
By Richard Jones
