For the second year in succession, Leithchville/Gunbower suffered a heartbreaking Heathcote District Football Netball League grand final defeat, going down to North Bendigo in front of a large crowd at Huntly Oval.
Post-game, the Bombers’ rooms were sombre and silent as the players contemplated the 20-point loss after a season of comprehensive victories that had seen them enter the decider as favourites.
Out pressured by a finals hardened Bulldogs outfit, the Bombers – who had won their past 15 matches going into Saturday’s decider – had shown little of the efficient team play evident in their second semi-final win over Huntly, playing as their coach Matt Hawken described “our worst football since the first two rounds”.
Twenty minutes previous though, spirits were high as the Bombers had closed to within three points of the Bulldogs in an improbable comeback after at one stage trailing by 32 points.
Improbable is possible understating the case, as the Bombers had since half-way through the first term been completely overwhelmed by the Bulldogs’ pressure and obvious
attention to the Bombers key playmakers.
North Bendigo had Alex Shippard and Aiden Metcalf tagging star Bombers Tim Lincoln and Tom German and the Bulldogs pair stuck to their task all day, limiting possessions from the normally prolific duo.
Added to the Bombers woes had been the loss of the linebreaking Jackson McEwen with a shoulder injury during the first term.
Missing the injured Daniel Coates and now without their most reliable tagger, the Bombers would struggle to recreate the run and carry evident in their win a fortnight before.
Still, the Bombers looked the better of the two sides in the early stages and with goals to Ayden Walton, Matt Perri and the mobile Sam Kennedy took a five-point lead to the quarter time break.
North Bendigo had also suffered on the injury front with half-forward, Brady Herdman succumbing a knee injury.
Curiously, this appeared to aid the Bulldogs cause – uncomplicating their forward line and leaving Sam Barnes as the main target.
Despite the efforts of Bart Walsh, North Bendigo was winning the midfield battle, and when the likes of Jarrod and Tyson Findlay and Blayne Ryan-Storey emerged from the middle there was no need to lower the eyes to locate Herdman,k with Barnes an ever present choice.
Barnes would kick four goals in the second term as the Bulldogs threatened to break the game open, with the Bombers looking hesitant and unsure of where to head when ball in hand – more often than not simply kicking down the line to a contest rather than actively look for a teammate.
This was the same issue as the previous year – no Plan B – which was curious as Kennedy, Walton and Perri worked hard to provide options but were denied opportunity through poor delivery.
Goals for the Bombers came through laboured efforts rather than fluent – snaps from Cam Ross and Ben Meroli kept the Bombers in touch and Riley
Keath’s goal at the 29 minute mark from a free kick narrowed the half-time margin to five points.
The pattern continued in the third term as the game opened up for the Bulldogs, who scored goals on the back of running football and good delivery as the Bombers continued to hesitate and lose momentum.
Fumbles and turnovers – basic errors such as kicking into the man on the mark – cruelled the Bombers’ chances to attack and erode confidence in attempting anything other than the predictable.
With most of the Bombers attention on the Findlays and Ryan-Storey, it was Storm Giri who got away from the Bomber midfielders. The diminutive Bulldog was given far too much room, kicking three goals for the term as North Bendigo at one stage got out to a 32-point margin.
Walton and Perri kicked the final two goals of the term to reduce the three quarter time margin to 20 points, showing that they were still in business despite the unreliable supply from up the field.
Perri again lifted Bomber hopes early in the last term with his third goal and when the hard working Kennedy marked and kicked his third, the improbable became more probable.
More excitement was to follow as Perri produced a superb three-touch soccer type goal worthy of the Premier League while holding off his opponent with strength that reduced the margin to three points with the best part of 20 minutes still to play.
Momentum was with and should have continued for the Bombers, yet North Bendigo steadied – a product of their day-long midfield dominance and gradually regained control.
North bombarded the goals with some inaccurate kicking but all the time putting valuable distance between them and the Bombers on the scoreboard.
Eventually goals followed – first Jordan Collins and then suitably Barnes, with his seventh for the day, put the final touches to the Bulldogs’ second premiership in a row.
Hawken was as expected disappointed in the loss acknowledging though that North Bendigo’s pressure had been exceptional.
“They won the midfield battle and gave us no space on the wings where we usually generate a lot of our run from,” he said.
“It’s disappointing not to produce the sort of football that has got us this far – we had our chances in the last term but just couldn’t get on top, which is a credit to North.”
