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LODDON VALLEY FOOTBALL NETBALL LEAGUESPORT

Monday April 11, 2016BENDIGO ADVERTISER28 bendigoadvertiser.com.au

Champs down Dogs

BRIDGEWAER andMitiamo showedwhy theyre regard-ed as the two best

teams in the Loddon ValleyFootball Netball League withfirst-up wins on Saturday.

Both teams were tested by

their opponents in the firsthalf, before class took over inthe second half.

Reigning premier Bridge-water scored a 17.23 (125)to 7.4 (46) win over PyramidHill, while Mitiamo kicked18.12 (120) to Inglewoods10.8 (68).

Rookie Bridgewatercoach Marc Lindsay wassatisfied with the MeanMachines victory.

Pyramid Hills ball pres-sure was spot on and theycame to play, Lindsay said.

It was a good hit-outfor us.

Bridgewater kicked thefinal two goals of the secondquarter to grab a 20-pointlead at the main break andthen dominated the secondhalf, kicking 10.14 to 2.3.

We had plenty of thefooty, but let ourselves downkicking 17.23, Lindsay said.

Tat just shows we haveto straighten ourselves up abit. In transition we coughedthe footy up more thanwe expect.

New skipper Zeb Broad-bent set the tone for theMean Machine.

Te midfielder wasclearly his sides best playerin the first half when theBulldogs were at theirmost dangerous.

Fellow midfielders KyleChant and Lindsay weredamaging, with the coachfloating forward to kickthree goals.

Darren Clutton enjoyedsome time inside forward 50,kicking four goals, while RickLadson added two goals inhis first game in the LVFNL.

Despite the lopsided finalscore, there were positivesigns for Pyramid Hill coach

Brad Fawcett.Key defenders Michael

ONeill and Michael Dundondid a great job on limitingthe influence of Bridgewaterkey forwards Alex Collinsand Brad Rohde.

Midfielders AndrewDobby and Daniel Price wonplenty of the ball, while key

forward Nathan Fitzpatrick

kicked three goals fromlimited opportunities.New coach Justin Mad-

dern kicked seven goals asthe Superoos overcame agallant Inglewood.

Te Superoos only led bysix points at the main break,but a seven-goal to one thirdterm broke the back of theBlues resistance.

Inglewood is a well-drilled side and theyveobviously done a lot of workin the pre-season, Mad-dern said.

Tey stunned us in thefirst half. Tey ran the ball

well and their full groundpress made it hard forour entries.

We got back to the basicsin the third quarter and wetman-on-man.

We had lots of run inthe third quarter and wedelivered the ball to ourforwards better.

Dynamic midfield duo

Doug Tomas and ysonSidebottom were outstand-ing all day for the Superoos,while Maddern creditedveteran Andy Grant forsparking Mitiamo in thethird term.

We asked for someoneto stand up and Andy wasthe man that set us up in themiddle in the third quarter,Maddern said.

We overdid the handballin the first half, but in thethird quarter Andy was theman in tight feeding outhandballs to our run-ning players.

Te downside to Grantsperformance was ahamstring injury that willprobably sideline him for afew weeks.

Craig Crichton, Zac Rae-burn and Jordan Ashby werebest in a promising perfor-mance from Inglewood. SamWilliams kicked four goals.

Calivil United opened

2016 with a 71-point winover YCW.A seven-goal to none

second quarter ensured theDemons had the points inthe bag by half-time.

Tey went on to win 19.9(123) to 7.10 (52).

We played well inpatches for about half agame, Calivil United coachAnthony Dennis said.

Tere was a six minutepatch in the second quarterwhere we kicked four goalsand that was the differencein the end.

Tere were some good

signs to forward with, but wehave a lot of improvementleft in us.

Ruckman Chris Downwas best for the Demons,while Sam Green and BenKnight impressed throughthe midfield.

Star recruit Mitch Farmerkicked four goals in his first

game in Demons colours

and Dennis added fourgoals himself.Mitch straightens us up a

lot through the middle of theground and when he goesforward he looks danger-ous, Dennis said of theformer Richmond and PortAdelaide listed player.

With that AFL experiencehes a very smart footballer.

Midfielder Mitch Collinswas the Eagles best player,kicking three goals.

Nick Waterson, DylanPierce and Jordan Crispalso battled hard againstthe odds.

Te Newbridge versusMarong game was hyped upas the clash of the leaguestwo big improvers.

Newbridge lived up to thehype, while the Panthers,who were missing five seniorplayers, were poor for thefirst three quarters.

Te final score of 12.12

(84) to 8.8 (56) flattered

Marong, with the Maroonsleading by the best part ofnine goals in the third term.

Newbridges even spreadof contributors proved to bethe difference.

Our theme leading intothe game was for everyoneto play their role and we had22 contributors, Newbridgecoach Matt Dillon said.

In the last quarter wewent away from what servedus well in the first threequarters, but overall we werehappy to get the win.

Marong were missinga few players and Im sure

theyll do some damagewhen they get those play-ers back.

Sam Kennedy impressedfor Newbridge with hispace and skill, kicking threegoals, while Brad Comer andLachlan Ford were superbacross half-forward andthrough the middle.

BEST ON GROUND:Bridgewater's Zeb Broadbent was a ball magnet in his first game as captain of the club. Pictures: ADAM BOURKE

Machine

mean insecond

halfBYADAM BOURKE

ON TARGET:Alex Galea snaps a goal for Bridgewater

against Pyramid Hill.

CHEST MARK:Bridgewater key forward Brad Rohde

leads the defenders to the ball.

RELIABLE:Pryamid Hill

defender Michael Bateman.