THE Maryborough Magpies confirmed 2008 pre-season talk that they were a club on the improve and a definite contender for the Bendigo Bank Bendigo Football League finals series.
Under the QEO lights on a Saturday night in Round 3 four years back, the young Pies were far too accomplished for Sandhurst.
The Dragons looked to be a side on the slide as the Magpies ran away with the four, premiership points in the second half.
Following an impressive performance against reigning premiers Eaglehawk in Round 2, Maryborough controlled the Saturday evening fixture after an even first term.
And even though Magpie key defender Adam Hurse was sidelined with a corked thigh in the opening quarter it made little difference.
The Pies made their match-winning move in the first 17 minutes of the second stanza. After scores were all tied up at 18 points apiece at the first change, Maryborough put the pedal down.
The Magpies' burst of 4.4 scuttled the Dragons. Speedy small forward Matthew Bilton, who kicked two of the four goals, winger Chris Thomson and important midfielders Joel Malone and Matt Johnston broke the game open.
THE Dragons did manage to close the quarter out with three majors in the last 11 minutes of the first half. Big men Matt Thornton and Sam McGee, along with midfielder Tyson Findlay, booted the Sandhurst goals.
That left the Hurst just nine points down at the long break, but the home side could manage only a paltry 1.5 for the rest of the night.
Meantime, Maryborough added 5.3 with elusive on-baller Michael Noonan, half-back Glenn Handley and follower Shane O'Connor all prominent.
The final stanza was a bonanza for the Magpies who increased their lead to a touch more than five goals by the final siren.
Maryborough coach Shane Fisher, who had announced only 24 hours earlier that his playing days were over because of a serious, recurring injury, said his team had improved "out of sight" in the opening two rounds.
"But I though we let ourselves down a bit tonight," he said.
"We could have kicked 10 goals in that second quarter and recorded a really big win, but I guess that's credit to Sandhurst."
Hard-working Hurst midfielders Michael Cornish and Tyson Findlay were clearly the best two for the Dragons who had managed just nine goals in their opening two BFL matches of 2008.
MARYBOROUGH 3.0 7.4 9.4 12.7 (79)
SANDHURST 2.6 5.7 5.9 6.12 (48)
GOALS - Maryborough: M. Bilton 3, Jamie Bond 3, M. Brown 3, M. Johnston, M. Noonan, C. Thomson. Sandhurst: S. McGee 2, T. Findlay 2, M. Cornish, M. Thornton.
BEST - Maryborough: M. Noonan (best on ground), J. Malone, G. Handley, M. Johnston, M. Brown, M. Bilton and S. O'Connor. Sandhurst: M. Cornish, T. Findlay, R. Gow, M. Borchard, M. Prowse.
MEANWHILE in an even earlier season match 11 months later, Bendigo selectors had a one-off opportunity to see potential Blue and Gold players in action.
The occasion was the stand-alone Bushfire Appeal match on March's Labour Day weekend in 2009.
The representative Bendigo line-up went down by four goals to the Bendigo Bombers in a well-attended match at the QEO.
The actual result didn't matter all that much. It was a historic match as far as Aussie Rules was concerned --- a Victorian regional league taking on a VFL club.
The specific aim was to raise funds for the victims of February 2009's Black Saturday fires which raged less than two kilometres from Bendigo's CBD.
The match was played on the holiday Monday with the Bombers wrapping up their eventual victory with a scintillating first quarter.
The VFL side booted six goals to one and in fact had posted 6.3 (39) before former gun Castlemaine spearhead and present day Central Victorian Football CEO Steven Oliver landed the BFL's first major.
Simon Weekly was the livewire in the Bombers' front half. The 2007 BFL Rookie of the Year banged home two of his four goals for the day in the opening stanza.
Weekly was busy match-long while his teammate Christian Bock controlled the ruck battles.
Blue and Golds skipper and centreman Shannon Milward ried everything to get his side moving. The 2008 Michelsen medalist consistently bullocked through packs, firing out handballs.
Gisborne midfield powerhouse Ollie Messaoudi was Milward's lieutenant, gathering plenty of possessions. But woeful field kicking and misdirected handpasses, especially across half-forward by the BFL side, turned the ball over far too often.
Sandhurst's Lee Coghlan kicked truly from the swimming pool pocket right on half-time. That solitary second quarter major left the BFL All-Stars well behind at the long break, even though the defence led by Malcolm Borchard had restricted the Bombers to just two six-pointers in the second term.
TRAILING by 39 points the Blue and Golds looked a different unit in the third term. Majors to Justin Maddern, the late Shaun Bergin and Darren Farrugia brought the crowd to life.
When Oliver marked a long kick from Grant Ford and converted the BFL All-Stars seemed to have all the momentum.
Those four, unanswered majors had reduced the margin to 15 points. Then gradually the Bombers' backline, led by Tyson Slattery, re-asserted their first half ascendancy and the VFL side steadied.
First Kade Klemke goaled from a forward thrust. Right on the three-quarter time siren Dash Barrolli soared high in the goal square to pluck the mark-of-the-day.
The smallest man in a pack of four players Barrolli clung to the leather as if his life depended on it. His goal after the siren restored a 29-point buffer to the Bendigo Bombers.
But again the All-Stars reduced the deficit with last quarter goals to Maddern and Oliver at the Barnard Street end.
Maddern threaded through his major from close to the boundary line, tucked in on the South Bendigo social rooms flank.
When Eaglehawk 2008 premiership skipper Brady Herdman goaled for the Blue and Golds, the margin was once more slashed to 18 points.
It was left to Essendon's Irish recruit Michael Quinn to put the game out of reach for the BFL.
Quinn broke clear of a midfield contest and kicked the final major of the day, on the run.
And the day proved a great financial success. The Bendigo Football Unites charity event raised $86,000 for the bushfire victims of Bendigo's western suburbs.
Bendigo Bombers 6.3 8.7 10.9 12.11 (83)
BFL All-Stars 1.1 2.4 6.4 9.5 (59)
GOALS - Bendigo Bombers: Simon Weekly 4, Michael Still, Brent Chapman, Troy Coates, Kade Klemke, Stacey Fiske, Ky Miller, Dash Barrolli, Michael Quinn. BFL All-Stars: Steven Oliver 3, Justin Maddern 2, Brady Herdman, Darren Farrugia, Lee Coghlan, Shaun Bergin.
BEST - Bendigo Bombers: Simon Weekly, Christian Bock, Blair Holmes, Tyson Slattery, Michael Quinn, Thomas German. BFL All-Stars: Shannon Milward, Ollie Messaoudi, Justin Maddern, Grant Ford, Malcolm Borchard, Shaun Bergin.
Richard's tips for Round 3: Eaglehawk, Kangaroo Flat, Golden Square, South Bendigo, Strathfieldsaye.
2012 running total: 8.
By Richard Jones
