BY RICHARD JONES
Castlemaine, with newly appointed coach Kerin Lourey in charge, rocketed up the late 1980s BFL ladders to reach the preliminary finals in 1987 and 1988.
Coming from just two wins in 1985 and three in 1986 the improvement to 15 victories in both the next two seasons was spectacular.
And with recruits Steven Oliver and Rod Keogh joining the Magpies in 1988 to partner Derrick Filo, John Jefferies, hard man Dale Williams, on-baller Phil Seaton and ruck star Lazar Vidovic the Maine had a great side running out onto the park each Saturday.
Let's look back and see how they fared in 1987. They were second going into the Eaglehawk away game and despite Dale Williams' 150th the Magpies left Canterbury Park beaten.
The 150th proved a second handicap for the Pies when Castlemaine left the Kyneton Showgrounds, beaten, in John Jefferies 150th.
But milestones weren't totally washed away with losses. In Ron Cawthqan's 250th Castlemaine flogged North Bendigo at Atkins Street while Lenny Watson's 100th was marked by a win on the QEO.
The Maine picked up late in the season under Lourey's leadership with a mighty win over Golden Square. It was just the third time in 20 seasons Castlemaine had beaten the Bulldogs, and the win was made even sweeter with Jefferies' 10 majors at full-forward.
Finals action was locked away with a win over South Bendigo with the Maine preparing to meet the Bloods in. the BFL: elimination final.
Lourey led his Magopies to an elimination final win over the Bloods followed up by a surprise victory over Kyneton the next week.
So it was a preliminary final next --- against Eaglehawk --- but the Two Blues were too good so Castlemaine ended up third that season.
Onto 1988 and this is where the star-studded line-up really shone. Ollie nailed nine goals from 13 shots in the Rd. 3 thrashing of Square, Filo was in dominating form finishing with 34 touches and it was Eaglehawk;'s turn in rd. 5 as the Magpies piled on 10.3 in the second term.
It wasn't until the Monday of the June long weekend that Northern United put a stop to the Magpies' and then the Maine suffered a mid-winter injury headache.
Oliver, Keogh, Mick Rolfe and Vidovic were late withdrawals on the morning of the Square clash and the Bulldogs took full advantage of the weakened Maine line-up jumping out with an 8.5 first quarter.
But it's the return clash against Eaglehawk which must be examined closely.
Filo was unstoppable as he amassed 54 disposals and 17 marks for the day. That's right !
You read it correctly. Half-a-hundred possessions after snaring 25 kicks, eight handballs and 11 marks by half-time.
I've never seen anything like Filo's disposals that day and I recall questioning Magpie officials and stats people on the weekends after that Eaglehawk game if all the figures added up.
No one from the Camp Reserve took a backward glance. So Dekka's half-a-hundred possession game stands to this very day.
The Pies booted 14.2 in the first quarter and then 16.5 in the third against the Flat to finish with 40.15 (255) with Jefferies slotting 10 majors that day.
Lourey and his team entered the finals very confident and after another 38.19 (247) big final score in late August they had the scoring power to back themselves up.
But the United Swallows totally outplayed them in the qualifying final before Castlemaine re-grouped to down Kyneton in the first semi-final.
But this win came at a cost. Before the first bounce there was a melee resulting in Dale Williams being reported. He was subsequently suspended by the BFL Independent Tribunal.
It wasn't Castlemaine's only 'out' leading into the preliminary final against Northern United. When prolific on-baller Phil Seaton was forced to withdraw with a hamstring injury, the Pies had a weakened line-up.
Booting 3.7 with the opening term's breeze let the Swallows back into the game and they ran out winners by 16 points in the prelim. final.
Thus ended Castlemaine's 1988 season one game before the Big Dance.
But it had been a big upsurge since some miserable early Eighties seasons and the Castlemaine faithful looked forward to some big years as the Nineties loomed.
And they weren't disappointed. Of course the Maine Magpies took home the 1992 Advertiser Premiership Cup.
That grand final ranks with me as one of the Top Three I've seen in 50 years of covering Bendigo footy.
## More to come: Castlemaine in the 1990s and early 2000s.
