As a child of suburban VFL football, the visits to opposition strongholds have always held a sense of fascination. None more so than that of Victoria Park, the fearsome Collingwood home ground populated by even more fearsome denizens on the terraces.
A win by the mighty Essendon in such a locale was a hard-fought, and in truth quite rare, occurrence and as such was always a thing to be savoured.
For better or ill, the drive to a national competition in the later half of the 1980’s, and the rise of both clubs to league superpowers, combined to condemn suburban clashes between the two solely to the deep meres of memory.
But such recollections may echo long down the ages. And thus the donning of the red-sashed jumper by the Bendigo Bombers for another clash against a traditional foe, is enough to ignite a passion among many of its followers not necessarily present in many other games.
For those of a nostalgic bent, when a quick perusal of the team sheet revealed the hallowed names of Neagle and Dunell, the imagery was near complete.
Perhaps not surprisingly though, the opening did not do justice to historical notions of gladiatorial combat that some may have been envisaging.
There was a problem pre-game with communications from the coach’s box to the bench, and so Bendigo coach Shannon Grant chose to do his task from the boundary side. Perhaps the batteries were flat in his comms equipment, and if so they appeared to mirror those in his players.
An horrendously flat Bendigo bumbled and fumbled its way through a disastrous first quarter. Despite finals being on the horizon, the much lower-placed Collingwood dismembered the Bombers with aplomb, slamming through a staggering seven unanswered goals – plus another half a dozen off-target shots - for the term whilst the visitors could barely scrounge three behinds from fleetingly sporadic opportunities.
For local fans, it all seemed perfectly natural, with another mauling of the enemy at Victoria Park added to the notches of the suburban belt.
For Bomber fans, it looked decidedly ugly. Though not as ugly as the look on Grants face as he laid down the law at the first break. And not without reason as the lack of intensity, willingness to work and decent decision making was completely at odds with most of the season to this point.
The second term began with a lift in effort, though not a greatly improved effect.
Scott Gumbleton finally got the Bombers first goal after a mark and set-shot to open the term, but midfield turnovers continued to hamstring the side and Collingwood responded.
Seven minutes into the quarter, Bendigo trailed 60 points to 10 and were fighting against their own errors as much as with the Collingwood opponents.
It was, however, to be the zenith of the ‘Pies lead as an almost imperceptible change came over the game. Certainly it cannot be claimed that someone flicked a switch to get Bendigo going, but rather a slow grind began.
It began – understandably given the location of the ball for much of the first 40 minutes of play – in defense, where co-captain Trent Shinners started to take some important defensive marks. The interruption of forward momentum proved important as the game started to open up on the rebound. Nathan Lovett Murray set the tone around the ball, dispensing with overly-fancy ball-use and simply got the ball moving in Bendigo’s direction.
Tom Bellchambers got into the game, marking well all around the ground in a very entertaining dual with the Collingwood big men.
Young Essendon rookie James Webster started to chip-in with some important touches, as did Taite Silverlock from half-back, though he still ignored Lovett-Murrays keep-it-simple methods on occasions to his cost.
As soon as a modicum of midfield competitiveness was restored, the forward line appeared as if out of a fog. Frank Dunell's son, Sam, is a very likely looking player and cleverly found space and creative versatility at half forward. Behind him, the super impressive Tory Dickson started to create big headaches for the defenders, kicking multiple goals from good marking and positioning.
Gumbleton chimed in with another goal from a set shot.
It still wasn’t tidy, or overly organised, but somehow scoreboard momentum – if not general play - had swung wildly and the Red-sash brigade finished with the last 5 goals of the half, in doing so cutting the deficit to a scarcely believable 21 points.
If momentum around the footy was still largely debatable during the second term, it was definitively established during the third.
Bellchambers and Lovett-Murray stamped their mark in the opening minutes. Excellent tap-work from the former saw the latter explode from the opening bounce down to drive the ball forward.
Neagle managed a very good contested mark and kicked truly. The home side gathered their resources and managed to get the goal back, but the next centre bounce again saw Lovett-Murray with a barnstorming clearance and a relentless Bendigo dominated all areas of the game for the next 20 minutes of play.
Luke Davis and Shinners continued to control the aerial contests in the back half.
Webster had some very important input on the outer wing to continue a good patch of form, and Alex Browne got involved.
Henry Slattery, shifted from defense onto the ball, improved drastically after half time.
The Bombers rammed on 5 goals, 6 behinds for the quarter, the last of which goals kicked by Dunell established a 7 point lead for the visitors!
Ball-use, however, continued to be an issue and in the shadows of three-quarter time two midfield turnovers led to two late goals for Collingwood. And no ordinary goals. As if to reinforce the link with previous era’s, the Bob Rose stand – ever a willing onlooker to miraculous goals from Peter Daicos deep in the pockets – was again treated to two snapped efforts that would have had the former Collingwood great nodding in approval. It certainly had the home team onlookers roaring in appreciation, and granted Collingwood a five point buffer heading into the last period of play.
Football history is littered with big comebacks that stall at the final hurdle, and the late third quarter goals combined with Collingwood controlling the early part of the final quarter, suggested this may well be the case again.
The crucial opening goal went to the home side and a tiring Bendigo looked to have spent its petrol tickets. By midway through the last term the deficit was 15 points and the visitors were struggling to clear the ball from defense.
From somewhere though, the side lifted and found a willingness to run.
Bellchambers produced some exquisite ruckwork to set Slattery free and he burst from a clearance to kick a running goal from 40 metres out.
A few minutes later the ball was run from half back and driven forward to a leading Dunell, who calmly slotted the goal from a slight angle and it was suddenly anyone’s game.
What followed was a frantic five minutes of sheer physical contest, during which Lovett-Murray was immense, as was the lightly framed Pierce Liddle who hit in hard to lock the ball in when needed.
Neagle typified the endeavour of the moment with several big tackles and second efforts. The Bombers had a few chances but missed to trail by 1 behind.
Collingwood also had a chance to seal the game with a flying shot from 50 that went astray.
Down by 2 points, and with scarcely the same number of minutes left to play, Bendigo brought the ball into Webster in a back pocket and then went long to a vacant wing.
A gut-running Browne just managed to get on to the footy and played on immediately. The ball was driven in long and flat, where a mad scramble eventually led to a quick handball out to Matt Little, who squeezed home a low shot from 20 metres for the lead!
With just 30 seconds left on the clock, Bellchambers received a centre-square infringement and Bendigo kept control of the ball, where it finished right on the siren with Dickson in a forward pocket.
His shot missed, but it was academic.
The triumphant roar and raised hands that greeted the siren from Bomber fans and players alike bore testament to a passion and desire that most assuredly has its origins firmly rooted in an era of suburban yore.
My Best players: Lovett-Murray, Bellchambers, Shinners, Dickson, Webster, Dunell
Jason Hannigan, our Bendigo Bomber fan-in-the-outer
