SANDHURST has ticked off a full set of wins against all seven of its opponents to reach the halfway mark of the BFNL season undefeated.
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The flag favourite Dragons rounded out their unblemished first half of 2024 with a 51-point victory over Castlemaine at the QEO on Saturday.
The Dragons won 15.10 (100) to 7.7 (49) and while there's a saying that the scoreboard doesn't lie, the 51-point margin doesn't reflect that it was very much game-on during the third quarter.
It was a similar storyline to the previous week for the Magpies when they held their own for much of the game against Gisborne, but couldn't go the distance.https://www.bendigoadvertiser.com.au/story/8662527/dustin-martins-roots-300th-afl-game-and-rise-to-stardom/
It was also a result that reflects the first half of the season for the Magpies, who are a hell of a lot more competitive than they have been for the past eight years and are capable of playing good football against top-five sides, but converting it into good enough for long enough to start taking scalps continues to be a work in progress for Michael Hartley's side.
Eleven minutes into the third quarter the Magpies had the chance to close within two points of the Dragons when captain Bailey Henderson lined up for a shot from 40m on the flank in front of the scoreboard.
However, his shot hit the post and over the next 10 minutes the Dragons were able to create some breathing space with three consecutive goals - two to star forward Fergus Greene and a 45m set-shot from Alex Wharton.
The three Sandhurst goals in a row pushed the Dragons lead out to 24 points at three quarter-time.
While the Dragons went into the final break with the momentum, the Magpies were still close enough, if good enough, given they had the breeze in the last quarter to the Barnard Street end and had already proven during the second term they had the capabilities of making use of it.
Earlier in the second term the Magpies produced perhaps their most competitive burst of football against their long-time nemesis Dragons - who they are now winless in their past 26 encounters against - since a young Dustin Martin helped Castlemaine to a pair of wins over Sandhurst by 100 and 40 points in 2008.
The warning bells were ringing for the Magpies when the Dragons had skipped out to a 32-point lead early in the second quarter, 6.3 to 1.1.
At that stage Sandhurst had kicked six goals in a row after Castlemaine's Zavier Murley had slotted the first goal of the match with a 25m snap in traffic.
But with the game in danger of slipping away the Magpies rallied and made their move with four goals in a row of their own.
With the Magpies needing a spark, it was coach Hartley who delivered when his booming kick from outside 50 was on target for their second goal of the day.
That was followed by two more goals to Henderson and Zac Greeves - set up by a perfectly weighted pass from Hartley - and then one of the plays of the game by Henderson, whose class was on full display with some superb evasive skills followed by a brilliant snap from 35m that sailed through.
As well as the four goals in a row the Magpies also squandered three additional chances to make inroads on the scoreboard with a trio of set-shot misses, but their 4.3 to 1.4 quarter had trimmed what had been the 32-point deficit back to eight points at half-time.
But there would be no repeat of the Magpies' second quarter ascendancy in the final term as just as the Dragons had done against Strathfieldsaye the previous week, they absorbed the challenge and then kicked away.
Having kicked the last three goals of the third quarter the Dragons booted the opening four of the final term inside the first 12 minutes to put the Magpies away.
That run of seven goals across the third and fourth quarters coupled with the early six goals in a row equates to 13 of the 15 goals the Dragons kicked for the game coming in two blocks of unanswered runs.
Sandhurst's win was spearheaded by another bag of goals to Greene, who booted seven for the second week in a row to have 47 at the midway point, while the Dragons introduced debutant Deakin Andrews for his first taste of senior football.
"We felt we certainly weren't at our best today, but credit to Castlemaine, particularly in the second quarter... their pressure was really good and our guys were just on the backfoot a little bit," Sandhurst co-coach Ashley Connick said.
"We didn't use the ball as well as we would have liked, but outside of the second quarter they only kicked three goals across the rest of the game... the positive we take out of today is we're winning, but there's still a hell of a lot of improvement."
There would have been some anxious moments for Castlemaine supporters late in the first quarter when Henderson looked to have hurt his ankle.
However, he played on, but spent the majority of the last three quarters playing exclusively inside forward 50, robbing the Magpies of some of their midfield drive on top of the absence already of Kalan Huntly.
"We played some really good football in that second quarter, so we showed what we can do against the top side in the competition," said the Magpies' Hartley, who started the game in defence where he was a cool head before swinging into the ruck.
"It's just a matter of being able to sustain it for longer. At the moment we're three quarter specialists, so we've got to keep working to get better.
"At the moment it just seems like when a team kicks the first one or two goals of the last quarter our heads drop and we can't get it back."
MATCH DETAILS
Sandhurst 5.2 6.6 10.6 15.10 (100)
Castlemaine 1.1 5.4 6.6 7.7 (49)
GOALS: Sandhurst: F.Greene 7, N.Stagg 3, C.Maxted 2, M.Wilkinson 2, A.Wharton 1. Castlemaine: B.Henderson 2, T.Jackson 1, J.Chester 1, M.Hartley 1, Z.Murley 1, Z.Greeves 1.
BEST: Sandhurst: F.Greene, C.Maxted, I.Ruff, L.Tardrew, C.Smith, J.McLean. Castlemaine: R.Eyre, M.Filo, Z.Murley, B.Henderson, M.Hartley, L.Wilkinson.
