THE END OF A DREAM

by Barry from Beach Road

TEAC Oval, Port Melbourne has been the scene of many Sandringham triumphs over the past decade or so but on Saturday, it was the place where the Zebras' dream of a record breaking four premierships in a row ended in a shattering 17 point defeat at the hands of North Ballarat in the knock out VFL first semi final.

The front cover of this week's TRUenergy VFL Football Record said it all. Sandringham was under the gun after comfortably heading the ladder for most of the year. Last Saturday's narrow qualifying defeat at the hands of Williamstown and North Ballarat's miracle comeback from 59 points against the Bendigo Bombers had changed the face of the VFL finals. The Roosters were hunting for Zebra scalps and their ambush plans worked to a tee, assisted in no uncertain manner by the inaccuracy in front of goal that has plagued Sandringham over the past month.

Sandy regained some handy footballers from the Demons' AFL side in the form of Jace Bode, Lynden Dunn, Ryan Ferguson, Chris Johnson and the high flying Michael Newton along with Chris Lamb in defence and it was thought that the influx of talent would be sufficient to get the side back on track after a some poor lapses of form from the side that finished the home and away season at the top of the table. After all, it was less than a month ago that the Zebras demolished the Roosters by more than 10 goals in similar conditions at Trevor Barker Beach Oval.

However, this game was no mere formality and Roosters' coach Gerard FitzGerald and his men were determined to prove the majority of the football world wrong. They were banking on North Ballarat's running power as the key to eliminating Sandringham and the plan worked thanks to their small men led by Matthew Campbell and Lindsay Thomas who booted four and three goals respectively to dash Sandy's finals hopes.

The Zebras began full of confidence booting six goals with the aid of the breeze in a high class opening term played out under perfect conditions in Melbourne's spring sunshine. However, the Roosters kept themselves in the game with goals against the run of play and they did well to keep the Sandy lead down to just 13 points.

The second quarter opened promisingly for Sandringham with an early goal but North Ballarat started pushing men back into defence and made it hard for the Zebras to break through despite their ascendancy. The whole complexion of the game changed however, when the Roosters persisted with their pressure tactics, forced their opponents into error and then counterattacked through their running small men. Suddenly the goals flowed. Sandy gave away some stupid free kicks as a result of a lack of discipline and their game fell apart as they watched North Ballarat move to a 23-point lead at half-time after an eight goals to two second quarter.

In past few seasons, the Zebras have shown strength in the "premiership quarter" but the third quarter of this game was a disaster for them as they managed a woeful 1.8 kicking with the aid of the breeze. Although they had more of the play, their wastefulness in front of goal was diabolical with Bode and Newton missing easy shots from close in and many other opportunities went begging. The Roosters got on top of key Zebras in Peter Summers, Ezra Poyas and Nick Sautner who were all kept in check and by the final break they held a handy 20 point lead.

Sandy's never say die approach saw a desperate attempt to fight back in the final term but they remained wayward with their kicking in front of goal. While they missed some easy shots, North Ballarat's Thomas, caused the damage when he managed to conjure up the impossible goal with a kick that meandered from deep in the forward pocket right through the big sticks. When the final siren rang it was North Ballarat's 16.14.110 edged out Sandringham's erratic 12.21.93 of which only four goals were scored from 17 shots in the last half. To the Roosters' credit, it was the pressure they were able to apply that was part of the cause for Sandy's poor kicking and decision making up forward.

They say, "bad kicking is bad football" but Sandy must created something of a record for waywardness in front of goal losing its last three games despite having more scoring shots than its opponents. It lost only one game this season against a team that had more scoring opportunities and that was against the Roosters at Ballarat in Round 8.

Sandringham coach Mark Williams praised the opposition after the game for their well earned victory:

"It's an end of an era and it's a bitter pill to swallow, but you have to give credit to North Ballarat, they were fantastic.

"It was a very disappointing end to the season after we scraped our way to the top of the ladder with a young list."

That young list will be the key to the club's fortunes in 2008 and beyond with many youngsters sharing in its successes during the season and gaining a blooding under the pressure of finals football. For that reason, 2007 may still be remembered as a key year in the club's history.

HOW THE DEMONS FARED

The inclusion of five Demons did not turn out to be the panacea for the team's ailing fortunes after its honourable fight back in the qualifying final. Some of the players seemed flat and tired after a long season and they found it difficult to adapt to the conditions just six days after most of their team mates fought out their final battles of a miserable AFL season.

Jace Bode - one of the few players in the team with the pace to run with the smaller Rooster brigade. Needs to work on his ball handling and is a bit one sided but he has been one of the improvers of 2007 after an injury riddled debut year at the club.

Simon Buckley - flashed in and out of the play without having much of an impact.

Lynden Dunn - kicked a couple of goals and looked brilliant at times but his form overall was well below that which he showed in his last two or three games at AFL level.

Ryan Ferguson - seemed a little lost up forward but was steady when sent down back and he gave the team a fair bit of drive in the second half.

Colin Garland - a quiet game in the back line.

Daniel Hughes - had few opportunities and, apart from a couple of strong marks, did very little on the day.

Chris Johnson - worked hard all day and was one of Sandringham's best players. Showed great courage after bouncing back from a hard knock in the second half to be immediately back in the play.

Shane Neaves - had an average game in the ruck breaking even with his North Ballarat opponents.

Michael Newton – an erratic performance from a precocious talent. Took some great marks and was freakish at times but also committed some basic errors. A pre season of development under Dean Bailey should tell the tale as to whether he will go on to football stardom or fall by the wayside.

Matthew Warnock - the best of the Zebra defenders who stuck to his task all day and got better as the game went on.

Sandringham 6.5.41 8.8.56 9.16.70 12.21.93

North Ballarat 4.4.28 12.7.79 13.12.90 16.14.110

Goals

Sandringham Sautner 3 Dunn Newton 2 Bode Buckley Ferguson C Johnson Liddell

North Ballarat Campbell 4 Thomas Urch 3 Clifton 2 Goodes Grima Harding Spolding

Best

Sandringham Bode Valenti Ferguson Warnock Summers Johnson

North Ballarat Sharkey Lower Goodes Campbell Clifton Moloney