On a red-letter day for the Brunswick Football Club, with a 100% strike rate headlined by a nail-biting second-semi win for our senior women, the NOBs made their own contribution with another strong come-from-behind victory against Yarra Valley at Doncaster Reserve which knocked the Bushrangers out of the finals race and nailed shut second place on the Division Two ladder for us.

The day started with the NOBs’ reserves making their own emphatic statement with a massive third quarter of nine goals to nil after scores had been level at halftime, which cemented fourth place and ended Yarra’s finals hopes. It ended under (dim) lights with a thrilling win for the Renegades to take them through to the Club’s first grand final in the VAFA women’s competition, also against Yarra, who were well and truly sick of the sight of purple by Saturday night.

Sandwiched between those two games at Doncaster was a highly entertaining senior men’s clash, with the Bushrangers throwing everything they could at us to keep their season alive, starting much the better with cleaner ball use in an open game. We had first use of the downhill slope but couldn’t make the most of it, wasting numerous opportunities as we tended to blaze away. The absence of Chris Ford mucked up our forward structure, although the veteran Kyle “Cooky” Adams, playing his first game for the season, was excellent, kicking our opening two goals. In fact, he could easily have had had four or five by quarter time.

Come the second term, the home side showed us how to use the slope properly by moving the ball through the corridor. Regular turnovers by us in said corridor assisted Yarra greatly as they slammed on seven goals for the quarter. We were again wasteful in front of goal, with 4.6, consigning us to a 16-point deficit at the main break, which was by no means insurmountable but we needed to play smarter if we were turn things around. In particular, we couldn’t afford to continue to overuse the ball in the middle of the ground leading to the inevitable cough-ups for which we were being punished.

The third quarter did see things turn, but it was more through attrition than the flamboyance of the week before. We slowly got on top in the middle of the ground, with the class of Nick Burgin, Matt Brown, Matt Dickson and Ben Wilson coming to the fore. Our defence was also much better, aided by the fact the ball was not pinging down there as it had been in the first half. The forward line was still a work-in-progress, but Cooky and Snowy Baker kept presenting as targets, while Dom Sullivan started to buzz about.

By the final quarter, we really took over the contested ball and Yarra couldn’t maintain the pressure game they had brought early on. It was a credit to our boys that they finished all over the Bushrangers, kicking six out of seven goals from late in the third term to the final siren. A major to Yarra after the siren was small consolation for them and the final margin of 18 points was not a true reflection of how dominant we were in the end – 33 shots to 20 probably told the tale in that regard.

Nick Burgin’s form has been on an upward tangent for the past few weeks and on Saturday he was exceptional, racking up possessions and displaying superior skills at key moments. James Octigan, who has been threatening all season to have a break-out game off half-back, was excellent over four quarters, especially when the defence was under pressure early. Cooky was brilliant, showing all of his smarts and his four goals could have easily been more. Snowy Adkins also very good with three majors and he looms as a key player in the finals. The Midfield Matts – Brown and Dickson – are shaping as a good combination, with Brown inside and Dicko outside. Dicko also kicked a couple of nice snags. Skipper Danny King, wearing the number zero for the TAC Round, was another who made a solid contribution in a good team effort, especially after halftime.

We now return to Gillon Oval for the next two games, with Ivanhoe on Saturday, before a rest in Round 18, to be followed by our own second-semi against Whitefriars in the first week of September. There are plenty of exciting times ahead! See you at Gillon.