BY NATHAN DOLE
RUNNER-UP last September, Sandhurst is desperate to grab the Bendigo Advertiser senior footy premiership cup when it takes on Gisborne in Saturday’s Bendigo Bank Bendigo FNL grand final.
The Dragons and Bulldogs will clash from 2.20pm on Queen Elizabeth Oval in View Street.
At Wednesday night’s media conference in the Dragons’ den, Sandhurst co-coach Bryce Curnow spoke about the hunger generated from last September’s grand final loss to Golden Square.
“We have worked incredibly hard to gain another chance at winning a premiership,” Curnow said of the effort put in by the players and co non-playing coach Ash Connick.
It was one-all between the Dragons and the Rob Waters-coached Bulldogs in the home-and-away series.
When they met in the second semi-final the Rob Waters-coached Gisborne won by 23 points.
“We had our chances to win the game,” Curnow said.
“Three goals in the first four minutes really upped the pressure on us.
“From there we had plenty of the footy, but just didn’t score enough goals.
“Defensively, Gisborne was better than us.”
A huge challenge for Sandhurst will be the on-ball duels and centre clearances.
“Gisborne is incredibly tough to beat in that area,” Curnow said of gun ruckman Braidon Blake and centreman Brad Bernacki who polled 20 votes to tie with Sandhurst captain and gun on-baller/mid Lachlan Tardrew for the Michelsen Medal as league fairest and best.
“There will be times where Blake will give them first use through his tapwork. We have to work hard to limit his influence.”
Curnow believes Sandhurst ruckman Connor Sexton is up to to the task, along with Noah Walsh, Lachlan Tardrew, Lachie Hood, and Nick Stagg.
It will be a big grand final day for Dragons’ defender Isaac Ruff who is co-coach of Sandhurst’s under-18s team with Jarrod Bateson which takes on Gisborne’s young guns.
Ruff said the Dragons’ leaders and more experienced players such as Nick Stagg and Joel Wharton who marks his 200th game in the grand final played a big part in the preliminary final win.
He said their influence on the group at three quarter-time against Strathfieldsaye was crucial.
“We carry the momentum from the win against Storm into a grand final.”
Ruff’s first year with Sandhurst was the under-18s team in 2016.
He played his first senior game in 2017 and is part of a tight-knit defence that includes Liam Ireland, Bryce Curnow, Isaac Carracher, James Coghlan and Harrison Free.
On the coaching front he is incredibly proud of what the under-18s team has done.
“They had just the one loss in the home-and-away, but Gisborne is playing great footy, too.”
Since his first senior game with Gisborne in 2017, Jack Reaper has become a crucial part of the Bulldogs’ defence.
He will be gunning for victory and also to join the “premiership captain’s club”.
Reaper said watching on at last year’s finals had spurred many of his team-mates.
“To have seven teams (three footy, four netball) in the grand finals is a fantastic result for the club.”
After the premiership glory of ’22, Gisborne dropped to the seventh rung.
“We knew there would be quite a turnover of players after the grand final,” he said.
The Bulldogs still have 10 players from the ’22 grand final who will play in Saturday’s clash.
Injuries did not help in last season’s run, but it gave Gisborne a chance to blood many talented youngsters.
Some of those have kicked on to become key contributors on a consistent basis.
Among them are Harry Luxmoore across half-forward and Dylan Johnstone on a wing.
“They are 19 or 20 and have played brilliant footy all season,” Reaper said.
A Rod Ashman medallist as best afield in Gisborne’s under-18s grand final victory in 2022, Jarrod Ainsworth has seamlessly slotted into a defence led by Reaper, Jed Denahy and Liam Spear.
A key to the Bulldogs’ victory against the Dragons two weeks ago was a high pressure rating.
“Sandhurst is a really skillful team and has a lot of running power,” he said of an opposition that includes Cooper Smith and Noah Walsh.
“We worked really hard to limit the space they could run to.”
A sign of Gisborne’s desperation was a tally of more than 70 tackles.
A lot of the focus on beating the Bulldogs is on limiting the impact ruckman Braidon Blake, and on-ballers Brad Bernacki, Flynn Lakey and Jackson Cardillo have on the game.
“It’s not just about their brilliant skills, but work rate when opponents have control in the play.
“They work incredibly hard to put pressure on and get back to support the defence.”
In attack there’s Pat McKenna, Zac Denahy, Jack Scanlon and Harry Luxmoore to capitalise or create scoring chances.
A tight-knit back six for Gisborne includes Zac Vescovi, Jake Normington and Frank Schipano.
They face a huge challenge against Sandhurst’s marking power of Ron Best medallist Fergus Greene who has kicked 82 goals so far, along with Cobi Maxted and Lachlan Wright.
“Jed and Fergus had a great battle in the second semi. It’s one of our most important match-ups.”
Being a “stingy defence” is what Reaper and all in Gisborne’s back six take great pride in.
For both teams it’s not just about kicking goals, but also making it tough to be scored against.