Mixed bag for the Maine in the Noughties

After their stunning success in the 2000 BFNL grand final, the rest of the Noughties were a mixed bag for the Castlemaine Magpies.

Finishing just out of the Top Five in 2001 and 2002 the Pies sank to eighth in 2003 before re-bounding to snatch a spot in the 2004 semi-finals.

New coach Paul Eyles had re-invigorated the Pies and the re-formed Maine netball side under Vicky McLeod reached the ‘04 preliminary final.

The semi-final beckoned again for the footballers in 2005, but the netballers had slipped to eighth although Georgia Wills took home one of the A grade netball’s BFNL Betty Thompson medals in early September.

She’d tied with Maryborough’s Alicia Cassidy in the big award, a thriller on the vote count night.

But going back to the 2005 home-and-away season gun full-forward Steven Oliver reached 1,000 BFNL goals --- only the second man after the legendary Ron Best to reach the magic four figure total.

And his 1,000th came up in a one-sided final round clash with Golden Square.

Starting out on 995, Ollie booted the five goals he needed to reach the 1,000 in the first term and then went on, in a picnic, to add eight more.

So he finished with the baker’s dozen, thirteen, as the Magpies thumped the Square by 124 points.

Oliver topped the 2005 goal kicking table with 72 majors and was eventually inducted into the BFNL Hall of Fame in 2019 along with fellow Maine greats: Derrick Filo and John ‘Chicka’ Jefferies.

There’s another interesting statistic about Ollie which often passes unnoticed.

In the 2000 grand final where the Pies beat Kangaroo Flat 12.11 (83) to 9.17 (71) Ollie didn’t kick a solitary goal.

Still it took two Flat defenders to keep him quiet so the ace spearhead played his role for the Magpies.

So let’s concentrate now on the 2004 season under Eyles’ leadership.

After three early wins the Pies fronted up against Maryborough with the Castlemaine side keen to record a victory to honour Michael ‘Apples’ Blake’s 200th club game.

But it didn’t pan out as planned with Neville Massina’s Borough downing the Maine, with another loss coming up straightaway --- this time to Gisborne.

But Eyles re-formed his playing group. And straight after the bye they downed Eaglehawk to cement a Top Four spot.

And just behind the three top sides. But losses to the Hurst and the Square meant that Castlemaine had slumped to fifth at the exact halfway point of the 2004 season.

Still, there was a fair bit of the season remaining and two, consecutive victories over Kyneton and the Flat got Castlemaine pumping once again.

There were a couple of interesting trophies contested in the early Noughties.

The victory over the Kyneton Tigers meant the Highlands Challenge Cup stayed at the Camp Reserve, while the Maine played Maryborough for the Steve Brown Memorial Cup.

Back to Maryborough in a moment, but a round earlier and the Magpies registered a great win over South.

The Bloods jumped ahead early in the match but led by Eyles’ hard work and resolve the Pies re-bounded hard in the second half to post a resounding 41-point victory.

It was similar scenario in the Maryborough match. The Princes Park Pies bounced out of the blocks to hold a very handy 33-point lead at quarter time.

Again Eyles led the fightback. The Maine whittled away at the Maryborough lead and with a bright last term won the match --- and the Steve Brown Cup --- by 14 points.

And even though Gisborne thrashed the Maine at a freezing and very damp Graveyard in the next match there was one special milestone for Castlemaine.

Down at the Gardiner Reserve Derrick Filo payed his 350th senior BFL game with his tally reached at three clubs: the Maine, Kyneton and Kangaroo Flat.

His stint at Eaglehawk was yet to come.

Blake marshalled his side in great style against the Hawks in the Rd. 16 match at the Camp Reserve, and the victory took the Pies to fourth on the ladder and only out of third spot, and the double chance, on percentage.

And even though Eyles’ boys downed the Square in the concluding home-and-away round they couldn’t just get into third place.

Castlemaine beat Maryborough by three goals in the elimination final but the netballers lost the qualifying final to Gisborne.

They weren’t finished yet though, the Maine girls.

A victory over Sandhurst by Vicky McLeod’s girls launched them into the preliminary final but the Gisborne girls were too good in A grade’s penultimate 2004 game.

And in case we’ve forgotten after all the heavy downpours of rain in recent months (including 2022’s grand final day), 2004 was a severe drought year.

A bore had to be sunk at the Camp Reserve with the footy and cricket clubs involved in a joint venture.

Finally after a bit of a hold-up a bigger and more powerful pump was installed and the Camp Reserve remained a green grassy reserve right through the scorching summer months.

Finals scores in the Noughties for the Maine – 2004, 4th on ladder: Elim. final,s Castlemaine 15.10 def. Maryborough 12.10; 1st semi: E’hawk 16.17 def. Maine 9.13.

2005, second on ladder to Gisborne with 13 wins, 3 losses, 2 byes – qualifying final: 15.11 (101) l/t E’hawk 18.10 (118). 1st semi: South Bendigo 15.20 (104) def. C’maine 11.11 (77).

With North City, Ballarat, now in the BFNL in 2006 the league had 10 clubs. The Magpies finished 6th with 7 wins, 11 losses.

In 2007 it was a sixth-placed end to the season on 9-9 and then in 2008, with North City returning to Ballarat so the BFNL was back to nine clubs, Castlemaine ended up 7th on a 5-11 and 2 byes record.

*There’ll be more about the Maine’s seasons in the middle to late Noughties, 2006 to 2008, and not forgetting the classic 2009 match at Tannery Lane to mark the Strathfieldsaye Storm’s entry into Bendigo senior footy.

The two clubs were locked together near the bottom of the 2009 ladder at season’s end.

Castlemaine finished eighth with a 5-13 win-loss record while the Strath Storm ended up just one spot lower, in ninth position, with a 4-14 tally.