IT WAS the win Bears Lagoon-Serpentine had to have in Loddon Valley football.
After a couple of weeks where little had gone right, including a narrow win over bottom side Calivil United, a heavy loss to Bridgewater and yet another hamstring injury to star forward Josh Mellington, the fourth-placed Bears needed to show some resilience in Saturday’s clash with the fifth-placed Inglewood Blues to get their season back on track.
Under adversity, they bounced back in style, defeating Inglewood by 31 points, 10.11 (71) to 5.10 (40).
It wasn’t the Bears’ prettiest football, and the game itself didn’t reach great heights, but the four points was all that mattered to coach Jake Wilkinson.
“We made a point about starting really well, Inglewood has been in pretty good form lately and they’re probably a team we’ll meet in the finals,’’ Wilkinson said.
“We started well and got on top. The first half was free-flowing footy and the second-half the play got bottled up a bit and skill execution probably dropped off a bit for both sides.”
The star of the show for the Bears was classy forward Farran Priest.
In Mellington’s absence, not for the first time, Priest stood up when his team needed it by kicking seven of his team’s 10 goals.
He had six goals on the board by half-time, which set up the Bears’ match-winning five-goal margin at the main break.
Bears’ defender Josh Taig restricted Inglewood star forward Seb Erharter to just one goal, while Tyler Miles continued his brilliant form across half-back.
Luke Matheson, Josh Whittle and Cotchett worked hard for the Blues, who slipped two games behind the Bears on the ladder.
Bridgewater’s season continued to gather momentum when it defeated Maiden Gully by 77 points. 
A dominant first-half set up the 18.20 (128) to 8.3 (51) victory for the third-placed Mean Machine.
Making a strong start is becoming a habit for Bridgewater, but it’s not exactly getting full bang for its buck.
After kicking 1.6 with the opening seven scoring shots against Serpentine the previous week, the Mean Machine opened with 4.10 in the first quarter against Maiden Gully.
“We’re starting well, which is pleasing, but we’re not capitalizing completely on the scoreboard,’’ Bridgewater coach Lachlan Sharp said.
“The inaccuracy is something we can turnaround. One week you can have a bad week and the next week you don’t. The pleasing thing is we’re switched on from the start.”
Bridgewater kept Maiden Gully goalless for the opening quarter-and-a-half and had the game sewn up by half-time.
“Our back six is pretty set now and defence is so important to winning games,’’ Sharp, who led the attack with seven goals, said.
“It was good to grind and keep going. We got our outside run going and it was a really pleasing performance.
“We’re playing a really good brand of team footy and we’re getting an even spread of contributors across the ground from the backline all the way through.”
Adding merit to Bridgewater’s win was the absence of key midfielder Jack Neylon (foot).
Sharp expected the in-form Neylon to return for this Saturday’s clash with Inglewood.
It was a special day for the Horan family, with Saturday’s clash between the Mean Machine and Maiden Gully the inaugural Lachlan Horan Memorial Cup.
Lachlan was tragically killed in a car accident in 2019. He played football with Maiden Gully, while his younger brother Oscar plays with Bridgewater and he was part of the winning senior side on Saturday.
The Eagles, who were again without co-coach Angus Monfries, were best served by Josh Worsley, Daniel Russell and Tyson Jackson. A late goal from Seth Wright lifted Mitiamo to its second win of the season.
The Superoos fended off a gallant Calivil United 10.11 (71) to 9.11 (65), denying the Demons their first win of 2025.
Mitiamo looked set to break the game open when it established a four-goal lead in the first half, but the young Demons showed plenty of grit to fight back.
Despite playing without coach and star on-baller Sam Maher, the Demons hit the front in the final quarter and appeared to have the momentum.
However, in the end they fell one goal short thanks to Wright’s late heroics for the Superoos. Inside midfielder Anthony Huismann led the charge for Mitiamo, while Zak Myers and Zachary Morrison were strong contributors and Andrew Cussen kicked six of his side’s 10 goals.
Henry McCarthy (four goals) was best for the Demons ahead of Riley Walsh, Jayden Leach and new recruit Kade Blow.