All eyes were on Gisborne as the final votes of the Bendigo Football League Michelsen Medal were revealed on Sunday night.
Entering the final round, the Bulldogs had the three top place getters of the league’s highest football honour.
Ruck Braidon Blake was sitting first on 19 votes, while midfielders Brad Bernacki and Flynn Lakey were a further vote back.
Sandhurst’s Lachlan Tardrew polled three votes in the final round to take the lead and try to steal the show.
So it came down to the final game between Gisborne and Kangaroo Flat, which the Bulldogs won by 197 points.
Blake, who had 45 hitouts, received the one vote to tie with Tardrew.
Two votes went to Bernacki, who was given best by the Bulldogs, to make it a three way tie.
So it came down to the final votes of the night with Lakey a chance to claim the medal outright.
Lakey had 48 disposals in the final round. He finished second last year.
The three votes though went to Pat McKenna, who kicked eight goals, resulting in the first three way tie since 1979.
Both Blake and Bernacki said it was incredible to win the Michelsen Medal. Both said they thought that Lakey would poll the three votes to win it.
Blake said he didn’t think he had a chance of winning it.
“I can’t believe it,” he said. “The experience is even more special to share it with my best mate Brad.
“It was a good season and it was good to be on the park most weeks, which is something different for me.
“I just go out there and play my role for the team. I didn’t think I had a chance to win it as I’m a ruck and we don’t poll well.
“I thought I was there to support Brad or Flynn or someone else.“
Bernacki thought he would finish second again having just missed out in a number of best and fairests before.
He said he thought Tardrew was going to take out the honour.
“It’s pretty special to be honest,” he said. “I thought we were going to pinch votes from each other and we’d have a few blokes poll 10 votes but the three of us polled well and the others topped us up.
“I’ve finished second in a few different leagues and I thought I was jinxed.”
Bernacki said he thought he had a solid enough year but had some up and down performances.
He said since joining the club in 2019 and hasn’t looked elsewhere as he loves playing with the group of guys they’ve got.
The pair, who also happen to be best mates, were both full of praise for each other and making playing their roles easier.
While excited for the medal both have bigger things on their minds, this weekend’s grand final.
“That’s why you play footy for,” Blake said. “We’re looking forward to it and it’s been a successful year for the club so far.
“We want to finish it off this week and bring home the trophies.”
Bernacki added,” we’ve got seven of our eight teams in grand finals. It’s a massive day for the club.”
Meanwhile in the Betty Thompson Medal, Gisborne’s Maddy Stewart finished runners-up.
The two-time winner, who has finished second on a number of occasions too, finished on 18 votes behind winner Chelsea Sartori on 20 votes.
