General News
13 September, 2024
Like Dogs with a bone - I'm with John, writes The Oracle
FOR the good part of a decade, we had watched with admiration the evolution of Pyramid Hill on the football field and the netball courts. The family-friendly club that has pioneered a warm feeling for players, supporters ... and even opponents. The...
FOR the good part of a decade, we had watched with admiration the evolution of Pyramid Hill on the football field and the netball courts.
The family-friendly club that has pioneered a warm feeling for players, supporters ... and even opponents.
The Bulldogs have earned tremendous respect. They honour their legends and give nourishment to a new generation.
I am tipping Pyramid Hill to end possibly the longest drought in football this Saturday.
There can be an amazing synergy. John Carroll, a wonderful gentleman who has just turned 90, is the only surviving member of the Dogs’ last flag side back in 1950.
Running onto the ground this Saturday will be his grandson Brodie, while living these days in the Northern Territory, honours the past by playing for the future with the Mitchell Park boys.
Pyramid Hill has shown it can deliver the goods. Three meetings against the Panthers and three victories. Tight they were but they were wins.
Nathan Fitzpatrick has been able to structure the backline around Tom McGregor in such a way as to shut down the potent midfield of Marong.
There are players across every Bulldog line capable of turning the game - Bailey George, Bryden Morrison, skipper Steve Gunther.
But what has been most impressive in 2024 is that the Bulldogs are not about any one player - they are a team hungry to bring some silverware to Mitchell Park.
The job on Saturday will not be easy. Marong is going for a rare hat-trick. But shut down a couple of key players and Pyramid Hill can do the job. The ground, John Forbes Oval, will suit Pyramid Hill better.
The Bulldogs will be fresher from having taken direct entry into the grand final.
If there’s added luck, they may even win the toss and show they are real masters of the winds that blow across the Prairie plains.
For the sake of football, I’m sticking with the Bulldogs - my tip remains true back when the finals started.
Might only be a couple of kicks in it. Let’s hope the result comes down to skills and not left to an umpire’s decision or a kick for goal hitting the post.
I’ll be close by the boundary for four gripping quarters that will decide the top team in Loddon Valley for 2024.
John Carroll will be parked up close, too, watching the Bulldogs in action. And hoping his small and exclusive premiership player club rapidly grows in membership.
- GLENN CATTO