Tara Murray
Gisborne is grand final bound after a strong performance against Sandhurst in the Bendigo Football League.
The top two sides did battle on Saturday in a semi final with the grand final spot on the line.
The Bulldogs led at every break in a 13.11 (89)-9.12 (66) win.
Bulldogs skipper Jack Reaper said it was a relief to be back in the final game of the year.
The Bulldogs were last in the grand final in 2022 when they won a thriller before missing finals last season in a disappointing year.
“It’s been a nice feeling,” he said of the rebound this season. “There hasn’t been a lot of change over in the list in the off season.
“Just some of the development of the kids and having some blokes back full time and obviously having Robbie [Waters] back full time.
“It has been nice to bounce back and be finals and the opportunity to play in a grand final was a massive effort from everyone involved.”
Reaper said they started well before Sandhurst responded.
After leading by eight points at quarter time, they pushed the margin to 11 points at the main break.
With the breeze in their favour in the third quarter, the Bulldogs kicked five goals to one, to lead by 38 points at the final break.
That would be enough for the Bulldogs to hold on to.
“We had some really good patches in the second and third and put enough scoreboard pressure on,” Reaper said.
“We knew we had to put some scoreboard pressure on. We just controlled the footy in the third quarter and I thought our backline held up well.
“They had to try some things in the last and we’d built enough of a buffer to be able to hold on.”
The lead was a vital one for the Bulldogs, who were down on rotations.
Shane Clough kicked an early goal before going off with a broken jaw four minutes into the game.
Ryan Bourke and Harry Luxmoore clashed heads and both needed stitches. Bourke didn’t play much in the second half.
Zac Denahy finished with three goals for the Bulldogs, while Brad Bernacki and Matthew Merrett kicked two goals each.
Flynn Lakey, Bernacki, Braidon Blake, Denahy, Zachary Vescovi, Macklan Lord and Frank Schipano were among the standouts.
The Bulldogs now have the week off before the grand final. They will face the winner of the preliminary final between Sandhurst and Strathfieldsaye in the grand final.
Hoping to join the side in the grand final are their reserves and under-18s who will both play in preliminary finals this Saturday.
With three netball teams already into the grand final and a fourth playing in the preliminary final, there’s a lot of excitement at the Bulldogs.
“Hopefully we can have seven teams in grand finals and maybe win four, five, six or even seven premierships,” Reaper said.
