BY NATHAN DOLE
Pyramid Hill strives to break Bears hoodoo
PYRAMID Hill will be striving to end Bears-Lagoon Serpentine’s hoodoo when they meet in Saturday’s qualifying final in the Bendigo Bank Loddon Valley FNL senior footy action.
The Bulldogs and Bears will play at Marist College Oval in Maiden Gully from 2.15pm.
Winner advances to a second semi-final showdown with Marong, and the loser to face the winner of the elimination final between Bridgewater and Newbridge.
Both qualifying finalists finished the home-and-away series on win-loss tallies of 13-3.
The Jake Wilkinson-coached Bears will be aiming for a hat-trick of wins against the Bulldogs.
A new-look Bears-Lagoon Serpentine which has Wilkinson as first-year coach marked a 112-97 win against Pyramid Hill at Gadsden Finance Serpentine Reserve in round one.
Accuracy was a key factor as the Bears scored 10.1 to beat the Bulldogs by seven points in the 10th round at Pyramid Hill’s Mitchell Park.
In both of those wins, BLS gun recruit Josh Mellington kicked 10 and six goals.
The former Fremantle Docker had raced to 93 goals in nine matches, but has since been sidelined after surgery to repair a hamstring injury.
The Bears have not given up hope of Mellington featuring in this finals campaign.
Despite the absence of its key forward, BLS has kept on racking up the wins.
Stakes are much higher this time as Pyramid Hill tries to win its first senior premiership since 1950.
The Nathan Fitzpatrick-coached Bulldogs are on a seven-game winning streak.
Key players in the red, white and blue include Zach Alford, Braidy Dickens and Bailey Scott in attack, captain Steven Gunther, Damon Hemphill, Gavin James, Ben Knight and Lachlan Sidebottom.
The Bears have the experience of Tyler Miles, Andy Gladman, Justin Laird and Ross Turner.
The form of Farran Priest, Nathan Twigg, James Rippingale and captain Charlie Gadsden will be crucial in defeating Pyramid Hill once again.
On Sunday it will be Bridgewater against Newbridge in the elimination final.
It’s Newbridge’s first final since the grand final victory of 2018.
Massive task for the Sam Gale and Daniel Smith-coached Newbridge against an opponent which has won this season’s meetings by 21 and 99 points.
A key factor in both of those victories was Bridgewater full-forward and assistant coach Lachlan Sharp as he kicked eight and 12 goals.
In his first season with the Mean Machine after a brilliant career at Strathfieldsaye, Sharp has kicked 128 goals in 16 matches.
The Rick Ladson-coached Bridgewater has plenty of goalkicking power.
Targets inside 50m include captain Josh Martyn, Harry Conway and Lee Coghlan.
Bridgewater is strengthened by the inclusion of former Richmond and Carlton mid/forward Andy Collins.
There is plenty of premiership-winning experience in the Bridgewater line-up through Sharp, Conway and Jack Neylon at Strathfieldsaye, and Lee Coghlan at Sandhurst.
Key match-ups for Bridgewater include Jack Neylon in the centre against Tyler Constable, Lachlan Cohen at full-back against Chris Dixon, and Jon Coghlan ruck-roving against Newbridge co-captain Will Daly.
Newbridge is bolstered by the return of on-ballers Ben McKinley and Caleb Argus.
Key players for the Maroons will be played by co-captain Dylan Lloyd and Andrew Padbury in defence, Will Copland in the ruck, and rover Thomas Hobson.
The Newbridge attack will be led by Chris Dixon, Brandon Dimech, Sam Gale and Caleb Sanders.
In the reserves competition, Bridgewater takes on Pyramid Hill in the qualifying final.
A 14-2 record meant the Mean Machine finished the regular season in second place as Pyramid Hill was third on a 12-4 tally.
Bridgewater has won the previous two clashes with the Bulldogs by 21 and 16 points.
On Sunday it will be Inglewood against Bears-Lagoon Serpentine in the reserves elimination final.
The Blues beat the Bears by four goals in round two and marked a one-point victory in the Bears’ den in the 11th round.
First teams to compete in this season’s finals series will be East Loddon and Bridgewater in the under-18s qualifying final.
The East Loddon line-up will start favourite to win this match and advance to the second semi-fiinal against Marong.
East Loddon won all three matches against Bridgewater in the home-and-away series by 39, 26 and 101 points.
On Sunday it will be Inglewood against Pyramid Hill in the under-18s elimination final.
It’s two-all in this season’s meetings between the Blues and Bulldogs.
Inglewood won in rounds five and 17 by 69 and 142 points.
The Bulldogs marked a six-goal win against the Blues in round eight, and won 87-41 in the 11th round.
Schedule for Saturday’s qualifying finals at Marist College Bendigo, Maiden Gully:
Under-18s at 10.40am: East Loddon v Bridgewater.
Reserves at 12.30pm: Bridgewater v Pyramid Hill.
Seniors at 2.15pm: Pyramid Hill v Bears-Lagoon Serpentine.
Schedule for Sunday’s elimination finals at Pyramid Hill’s Mitchell Park:
Under-18s at 10.40am: Inglewood v Pyramid Hill.
Reserves at 12.30pm: Inglewood v Bears-Lagoon Serpentine.
Seniors at 2.15pm: Bridgewater v Newbridge.