The Bendigo Bombers, coming off a morale boosting three point win over the Frankston Dolphins last week, were aiming to notch up consecutive wins at QEO in their Round 7 clash against the Williamstown Seagulls.
The Seagulls, who are now aligned with the Western Bulldogs after Collingwood decided to field their own team, brought a strong team that included Andrejs Everitt, Peter Street and former Bendigo Bombers Jason Cloke and Ben Jolley.
Bendigo needed to play well in front of its home crowd to have any chance of beating the second placed Williamstown outfit and were boosted with Jay Nash and Ricky Dyson included in the line-up.
Tom Bellchambers was given the difficult task of competing with the 211 centimetre mountain Peter Street. Street won the first tap, however, Bendigo managed to grab the first clearance through Jason Johnson. Hayden Skipworth’s shot hit the post and Williamstown were able to clear.
The QEO surface was damp and the cricket pitch area was extremely muddy meaning the ball was slippery and hard to control.
Bendigo had all the possession in the early stages of the game until Ben Jolley brilliantly hit Liam Picken on the chest straight in front of goal after some slack defence by Bendigo.
Jolley managed to score the next goal and was one of the most prominent players in the early stages of the game.
Street was proving to be a handful, his size and strength were too much for Bellchambers who was comprehensively beaten in nearly every contest.
The Seagulls locked the ball in the forward 50 and Bendigo struggled to make any sort of impact on the scoreboard. Williamstown couldn’t make the most of their pressure and paid for it at the other end of the ground.
A rare attack from the Bombers resulted in a 50 metre goal by Johnson. Bendigo’s failure to convert early chances to goals meant they trailed by nine points at the first interval.
Having been outplayed for the majority of the first quarter, Bendigo was hoping to have more of an impact on the scoreboard in the second term. Things got off to a good start with the Bombers winning the first centre clearance which ended in a goal to Nash.
The Bombers pushed forward again after the centre bounce but failed to make the most of the opportunity. They could only watch on as Williamstown cleared the ball out of defence and launched a counter attack, which caught Bendigo off guard and resulted in a goal to Guy O’Keefe.
Josh Bowe scored for Bendigo before Williamstown replied immediately through Dean Galea. After going goal for goal in the early stages of the quarter both teams tried to pull away and it was the Seagulls who kicked the next three in a row to gain a comfortable lead.
Bendigo was up to the task though, Jonny Coghlan, Rhys Magin and Danny Chartres all scored to keep the Bombers in the hunt. In sight of the half time siren and only a straight kick behind, Bendigo conceded a goal that enabled Williamstown to carry a 12 point lead into the main break.
Bendigo came out firing in the second half; Johnson hit Skipworth on the chest after a quick clearance from the centre. The Seagulls replied almost instantly through Jarred Grant and when O’Keefe kicked his second it looked as though Williamstown was starting to pull away.
However, Bendigo’s fighting spirit came through and they managed to kick the next four goals, first Johnson goaled from 50 metres then Simon Davies, John Williams and Skipworth registered majors to hand the Bombers a seven point lead.
Having pinched the lead Bendigo needed to go on and finish the job; however some lacklustre defending meant Jolley was able to take the lead off his old club with two goals in the final few minutes. The Bombers played well for most of the quarter but a poor final few minutes meant they hadn’t made any inroads in the 12 point lead the Seagulls carried into the main break.
Bendigo were still in with a chance of upsetting the high flying Seagulls and when Cale Hooker scored in the opening seconds of the quarter it appeared as though the Bombers were going to mount a serious challenge.
However, the fitter Williamstown outfit ran all over Bendigo for the rest of the quarter, O’Keefe again caused Bendigo problems kicking two goals for the quarter and finished up with five in an impressive display.
Bendigo lacked a big target up forward and this meant their 13 goals were shared between 10 players, only Skipworth and Johnson were multiple goal kickers for the Bombers.
In the end Williamstown’s superior fitness was the difference as Bendigo was beaten by 37 points in a game that promised so much more for the young Bombers.
By Tom Pollock
