TOO YOUNG. Too inexperienced. Bridgewater coach Lachlan Sharp has heard all the comments, the criticisms and the backhanded compliments this season.
But as he said after the Mean Machine sealed their grand final berth last Saturday, “The kids have delivered.”
You can add underestimated to the list of descriptions of the senior team.
The second half of Bridgey’s win over Marong at Serpentine was as tough and as thrilling as footy gets.
The match was in the balance until the last minute, with Bridgewater leading by just two points as the clock ran down.
It was a topsy-turvy game, with first one team and then the other carving out a narrow lead.
Bridgewater, with Sharp in ominous form, kicked the first two goals of the match and got out to a 16-point lead before Panthers co-coach Kane Robins kicked a pair of his own.
The Mean Machine led by four points but can thank Joe Mayes for that margin, as the key defender took a string of defensive marks late in the quarter.
Marong gained control in the second term as Bridgey looked rattled.
Harry McKinley gave away a silly free to gift the Panthers a goal and when the Marong lead got out to 15 points, with danger signs flashing, Sharp took himself into the centre.
Afterwards he explained his decision: “I don’t think that made a big difference – it was to get myself into the game.”
Sharp was too modest.
Apart from giving away a goal with a late bump in the third term, the Bridgewater coach helped to turn the tide of centre clearances and momentum, and the Mean Machine headed for home eight points adrift.
Sharp did so on one leg, with his troublesome left knee giving him grief, while at the other end, Robins had kicked seven of Marong’s 12 goals and looked as if he might win the match off his own boot. However, the last quarter was an arm-wrestle of epic proportions.
Bridgey commanded most of the play but struggled to score until Josh Roberts marked and goaled deep into the term, putting his team three points behind.
Marong found it impossible to penetrate the Mean Machine’s defence, and when Jacob Ellings hit the target from a tight angle in front of the scoreboard, Bridgey had taken the lead for the first time since early in the second quarter.
A goal after the siren to Nic Naughton was icing on the cake, with three goals to none in the last quarter proving the difference as Bridgey kept their nerve to move into the season-decider.