You couldn’t have picked a more perfect day for the 2017 CAFL grand Final. Slightly cloudy with hardly any wind to start with and when a little breeze did pick up it was straight through the middle so there was no 7 goal breeze advantage blowing.
With all the hype from the previous week, The Blues were looking the goods with their solid performance against second place getters the Cougars. The undefeated Bulldogs turned up early and were pumped to overflowing with their pre match warm-up ritual hitting fever pitch proportions. President Langers pulled a few back room deals to get Christchurch local Hayley Westenra to belt out the national anthem (via Youtube) who really added to the big game atmosphere for the hordes of fans gathered at the N.
As the players lined up either side of the umpires de Cuevas, Langridge and Varcoe the Bulldogs had a full pick of 24 to choose from but the Blues were missing some key talent, namely the mercurial Jay Johnson (work commitments), Keegan (elbow), Benny (Knee) Hapi (ankle) and Fisher (heart muscle). With 15 turning up for the grand final this was going to be a tough day at the office.
First Quarter bounce saw the usual Bulldogs fast start pull the rip chord with Stoat smashing the ball forward collected by Kyle long drill to the forward line into the buffed arms of Sully. Shot went wide on this occasion as did the 22 other mis-fired shots but as the ball came out from the kick in the Blues found it hard going to clear the Dog Wall. Too many strong marking options like Stevie, Hayes or Mavor were lurking around the flanks. Buzz found it easier to go short to Aaron or Justin who worked it well chipping it around to get it to Milne or Jack on the wings. But with 15 players and the ball never quite getting into their forward line the Blues ran out of targets after halfway.
Quarter time Bulldogs 6 5 41 to Blues 1 0 6
In the second quarter Mavor showed the intent of the Dogs final footy plan with a “monster” tackle in the forward line to earn himself a rare goal. The Doggies grip on the game was tightening as they forced the Blues into mistakes and even though goal of the day came when jack Jones from a free-kick kicked the ball straight into the man on the marks face, he was able to regather the ball and kicked it low and hard into a diving mark of Jed, who goaled truly. But goals were rare for the Blues as baby Rhino, Cameron and Clarke repelled most attacks coming south. Clarke had a dominant game drifting off half back to float into the forward line and cut off loose balls coming out. Even through the heckling and cajoling were some what O.T.T he kept his nerve to take some impressive strong marks and goal truly a few times. (and quite a few points as well)
Half Time Bulldogs 8 10 58 to Blues 1 0 6
Three Quarter time Bulldogs 11 15 81 to Blues 1 0 6
Hats off to the Bulldogs who out trained, out played and out partied every other team this year. They certainly have got a great camaraderie going which is very infectious and they have created a high bench mark for the other clubs to follow.
Bulldogs crowned back to back Premiers and looking for the first three –peat since the four team competition started.
Full Time Bulldogs 15 22 112 to Blues 2 1 13
Bulldogs Best: Clarke, Van Gruting, Hayes, Mushy, Stevie
Blues Best: Aaron, Bowden, Howlett, Hogan, Quinto
by Steve Langridge
Last Modified on 08/12/2020 20:12