PRELIMINARY FINAL FOOTBALL PREVIEW | Greater stakes as Hawks fight Dogs again
STAKES are much higher this Saturday as Eaglehawk tackles Gisborne in the Bendigo Bank Bendigo FNL senior footy preliminary final.
The winner rolls through to a showdown with Sandhurst for the Bendigo Advertiser premiership cup.
For the vanquished it’s move on to the ’26 campaign.
The Rob Waters-coached Gisborne will be determined to have another crack at Sandhurst after the Dragons beat them in last September’s grand final by four points.
Eaglehawk has not played in a senior grand final since it was runner-up to Strathfieldsaye in 2019.
There’s more to play out in Gisborne’s request to transfer to the Ballarat league, but Saturday’s match may be the last Gisborne plays at Queen Elizabeth Oval.
The Hawks and Bulldogs have featured in many memorable finals across more than 20 seasons.
Gisborne won the 2003 and ’05 grand finals against the Two Blues.
The Hawks beat the Bulldogs for the premiership flag in 2007 by two points.
When these teams met a fortnight ago it was the Travis Matheson and Clayton Holmes-coached Hawks who marked a 65-56 victory in the qualifying final.
The Borough could not halt Sandhurst charging to a 10-goal win in last Saturday’s second semi-final.
Gisborne won the first semi-final against South Bendigo by 32 points.
In the qualifying final it was Clayton Holmes who led the Eaglehawk attack on four goals.
A Borough forward line which includes Jack O’Shannessy, Bailey Ilsley, Ben Thompson and Pala Kuma will test the Dogs.
Huge blow for Gisborne is a season-ending ACL injury to captain and gun defender Jack Reaper.
The Bulldogs premiership player fought through the injury in the qualifying final, but a few days later his season was declared over.
With Reaper on the sidelines it’s Zach Vescovi, Jed Denahy, Elijah Bretherton and Ryan Bourke who take on greater responsibility in defence.
The on-ball duels will again be a highlight.
The Hawks regained ruckman Brayden Frost for the second semi after he sat out the qualifying final because of a one-game suspension.
Frost will take on Zac Denahy and possibly Hugo Olive at centre ball-ups and stoppages.
At ground level the Hawks have captain Billy Evans, Joel Budarick and Joel Mullen at centre bounces.
Gisborne’s best in the first semi were ruck-rover Brad Bernacki and rover James Gray.
The workrate of both to win contests is outstanding as is their tackling and one per-cent plays.
Both are likely to feature highly in standings at this Sunday night’s Michelsen Medal for league fairest and best at Bendigo Club in Strathdale.
In midfield it will be Jack Thompson and Thomas Bennett on the wings for the Hawks.
The Bulldogs starting midfield is likely to be Thomas Werner and Dylan Johnstone.
The Hawks’ defence was superb in limiting Gisborne to a tally of eight goals in the qualifying final.
The Borough has had Charlie Langford, Jonty Neaves, Jack Donat, Sam Thompson and Dylan Hanley team superbly in defence all season.
They work hard on racking up intercepts and spoils, but also provide plenty of rebound to launch counter-attacks.
The pacy Tyh Evans is another threat to Gisborne from the half-back line and through midfield.
The Hawks defenders are up against Gisborne gun Pat McKenna, Harry Luxmoore, Matt Merrett and Darcy Young.
In the Drummond Golf Reserves it will be Golden Square and South Bendigo fighting to reach the grand final.
The Bulldogs finished the home-and-away series on top of the ladder but were overrun in the second semi as Sandhurst won 53-44.
After a 46-59 loss to Sandhurst in the qualifying final, South Bendigo fought to win the first semi-final against Castlemaine by a point.
It’s one-all in this season’s meetings between Golden Square and South Bendigo.
In round six the Bloods fought on for a 38-36 in the Bulldogs’ kennel in Wade Street.
Conditions were incredibly wet when they met again in the 13th round at Kennington’s Harry Trott Oval.
The blue and gold won 26-19 on the Bloods’ turf in Neale Street.
Golden Square’s squad includes co-captains Sheldon Burke and Dean Norris, Noah Warfe, Ned Jenkyn, Tommi Turner, Tanner Rayner, Flynn McConville and Zac Tickell.
Players to watch in the red and white include Braydan Torpey, Jasper Langley, co-captains Darcy Backway and Bailey Waterman, James Barri, Regan Harvey, Zavier Holmes and Max McMurray.
It will be the Bulldogs and Bloods in the SportsPower under-18s preliminary final as Golden Square takes on South Bendigo.
The qualifying final between these teams went Golden Square’s way by 26 points.
In the second semi-final, Golden Square was outran by Sandhurst as the Dragons marked a 71-25 victory.
South Bendigo held on for a 46-37 win against Strathfieldsaye in the first semi.
The ledger was one-all in the Bulldogs and Bloods meetings in the home-and-away series.
South Bendigo won 69-50 at Golden Square in round six.
The 13th round clash at Harry Trott Oval ended in a 44-20 win for the blue and gold.
The Bulldogs’ squad for the preliminary final includes Billy Buhagiar, Archie Eaton, Josh Kelly, Llogan Mayman, Melvic Pambai, James Peter and Archer Weeks.
The Bloods’ best in the win against Strathfieldsaye were Campbell Wood, Toby Hardingham and Luke Feuerherdt.
Other players to watch in the red and white include Chase Poyser, Anthony Gray, Jasper Irwin and Adam Triplett.
It’s been many seasons since South Bendigo has played in an under-18s grand final.
These young Bloods will be doing all they can to qualify for a showdown with the Dragons.
