They won six, but this will go down as the best of the Bulldogs' BFNL flags

Gisborne's senior premiership team after beating Sandhurst by 29 points in Saturday's BFNL grand final at the QEO on the club's final day in the competition. Picture by Darren Howe

AND so Gisborne departs the Bendigo Football Netball League with what is arguably the sweetest of the six senior premierships it won in the competition.

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On what was the club's final day in the BFNL, the Bulldogs go out on top after a breathtaking last-quarter performance against Sandhurst at the QEO on Saturday in front of a bumper crowd that in glorious conditions paid a gate at early estimates of at least $75,000.

Bound for the Ballarat league in 2027, the Bulldogs closed their 26-year Bendigo league chapter with a 29-point grand final win over the Dragons, 12.12 (84) to 7.13 (55).

The Bendigo Advertiser premiership cup headed back down the Calder to Gardiner Reserve one last time on Saturday night to sit alongside the 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006 and 2022 cups the Bulldogs also won after joining the BFNL in 2000.

And as the Bulldogs - once they are done celebrating and basking in this success - prepare to set off on their new chapter in Ballarat, they will do so with history having repeated itself.

In what was Gisborne's final year in the Riddell District league in 1999 before joining Bendigo the Bulldogs won the senior flag.

And now in their final year in the Bendigo league they too have won the premiership in what's not only a dream farewell from this competition, but a warning shot to the Ballarat league clubs next year about the calibre of team headed their way.

The Bulldogs winning the flag on their way out the door must rub salt into the wounds of the BFNL given what the club achieved on Saturday is exhibit A as to why the BFNL board last year fought tooth and nail to keep Gisborne for season 2026 - strong clubs make strong leagues.

For not only did the Bulldogs win the senior premiership on Saturday, they also won two netball flags: B grade and B reserve.

The Bulldogs have been a force on both the football field and netball court throughout their 26 years in the competition and their success on Saturday takes their final tally of BFNL flags won to 32 - 15 football and 17 netball.

While every premiership that is won has a special place in a club's history, you get the sense this 2026 flag will be one that will hold a particular reverence at The Graveyard.

SENIOR FOOTBALL AND RESERVES FOOTBALL PHOTO GALLERY:

For starters, history says the Bulldogs shouldn't have won given the path they had to navigate.

It could have been easy to argue the Bulldogs' premiership hopes were blown up in round 18 when Eaglehawk's record-breaking 359-point win over Broadford lifted the Hawks into third and dropped the Bulldogs to fourth as they lost the coveted double chance.

BFNL lore suggests that if you don't finish in the top three you ain't winning the premiership.

In the BFNL top-five era that dates back to 1983, only one team before Saturday had won the premiership from outside the top three: the 2001 Golden Square side coached by Brian Walsh that beat - ironically - Sandhurst.

Now Golden Square of 2001 has company in that most exclusive of clubs with its Bulldogs namesake, who only seven days earlier had trailed reigning premier Eaglehawk by 16 points at half-time of the preliminary final.

Then to win the flag on Saturday without widely regarded as the competition's No.1 player in midfielder Brad Bernacki adds to the magnitude of the triumph.

While one player doesn't make a team, the broken jaw suffered by Bernacki in the last quarter of last week's preliminary final victory formed part of a narrative during the week that his absence would tip the scales well and truly in favour of the Dragons.

After all, it's an average of 37 touches, 10 clearances and a goal a game the Bulldogs lost with the absence of Bernacki, who before Saturday hadn't missed a game for Gisborne across the past three seasons.

Injuries are part and parcel of footy though and while the loss of Bernacki was as big an injury story leading into a BFNL grand final for many a year, as coach Rob Waters said earlier in the week: "we've just got to get on with it."

And get on with it the Bulldogs did as not only was Bernacki watching from the sidelines, so too was the man who would have captained the side had he not torn his ACL late last season, star defender Jack Reaper, who while not playing a game this year still had a key part to play off the field in the success as the forwards coach.

Spiritual leader Jarrad Lynch - who was given the honour of presenting the premiership medals to the Bulldogs such is the esteem in which the former skipper is held at the club - was also forced into an off-field role with another ACL injury consigning him to the sidelines as well this year as the backline coach.

And it would have been Braidon Blake watching from the sidelines too had the Bulldogs not engaged in an old-fashioned game of ducks and drakes by pulling a selection swifty with the surprise inclusion of the star ruckman, who hadn't played since May 30 because of a knee injury.

The Bulldogs named forward Harry Luxmoore as the inclusion for Bernacki on Thursday night in what ultimately became a smokescreen with Blake coming into the side as the replacement for his 2024 co-Michelsen medalist and playing inside forward 50.

There was some "will he or won't he play" chat surrounding Blake getting around the Michelsen Medal room at The Bendigo Club last Sunday night and while coach Waters publicly shut down any suggestion of it, there's nothing like some selection intrigue to add to the theatre of grand final week.

As for the argument of this being the best of the six senior flags won by Gisborne in the BFNL, looking back to the 2002, 2003, 2005 and 2006 premierships the Bulldogs won - two each under coaches Mick McGuane and Marcus Barham - Gisborne had been the best team finishing on top of the ladder each year.

The Bulldogs lost only one game in those 2002, 2003 and 2005 premiership years and three in 2006, while they also finished on top of the ladder in their 2022 premiership season.

The Bulldogs duly converted their No.1 seeding after the home and away season into those five premierships, while this was a flag not only won from fourth position, but also in what has been touted as the most open BFNL race in many a year.

While Sandhurst finished two games clear on top of the ladder on 56 points, just one game separated second to fifth: Strathfieldsaye (48), Eaglehawk (44), Gisborne (44) and South Bendigo (44).

No flag is ever won easily, but this 2026 premiership given the evenness of the contenders was always going to be one particularly hard earned and in the end it proved to be the battle-hardened Bulldogs with a mettle of steel emerging as top dog.

Only one point separated the two sides at three quarter-time as the Dragons led 7.10 (52) to 7.9 (51), which prompted two questions to ponder.

Just what was the pain of last year's grand final heartbreak against Eaglehawk when it was over-run worth for Sandhurst as a driving force in this situation with the flag again up for grabs with one quarter left to play?

Make no mistake - a fortnight earlier it had been worth plenty for North Bendigo in the Heathcote District league grand final against Mount Pleasant when the Bulldogs trailed by two points having lost to the Blues by five points a year earlier.

And on a warm September day just how much gas was left in the tank of the Bulldogs having had to come through three knockout finals?

With a grand final separated by one point at three quarter-time, St Kilda coach Allan Jeans' famous line at the same stage of the 1966 VFL grand final against Collingwood seemed to perfectly sum up the situation.

"You've got 25 minutes to make a name for yourself like you've never made before," Jeans bellowed at his Saints' players at three quarter-time almost 60 years ago to the day.

Which 22 players from Gisborne or Sandhurst were going to make a name for themselves in the final quarter and who would handle the big moments?

While Sandhurst has been the master of the tight finishes this season the Bulldogs' ability to hit the line strongly had been a trait of their three lead-up finals wins as one-by-one they put a line though South Bendigo in the elimination final, Strathfieldsaye in the first semi-final and Eaglehawk in the preliminary final during which they outscored their opposition by 96 points in second halves.

With the flag up for grabs it was Gisborne that seized the moment and similar to Eaglehawk's last-quarter blitz - also to the city end 12 months ago - once they got a sniff there was no turning back as the Bulldogs piled on 5.3 to 0.3 in the final term to surge to a famous win.

The last quarter-impact of Gisborne star forward Pat McKenna will be one of the enduring memories of the grand final for the Bulldogs' faithful.

The 30-year-old, who was matched up on by this year's BFNL Rising Star winner and Team of the Year centre half-back Jaxon Howard, showed his champion qualities when the game was there to be taken by the scruff of the neck.

Talk about standing up in big moments, that's exactly what McKenna did, kicking the first three goals of the final quarter.

Two were from long-range set shots and one on the run from 45m in front of the scoreboard.

With two goals earlier across the second and third quarters, McKenna finished with five of Gisborne's 12 goals for the game in a performance that earned him the Nalder Medal.

McKenna kicked 16 goals across the Bulldogs' four finals to end the season with 94 - and to think he was considering hanging the boots up this time last year?

McKenna has been a champion of the BFNL and in his final season in the competition departs it with the Ron Best Medal as the leading goalkicker, best on ground in the grand final and a second premiership medal having captained the Bulldogs' 2022 flag.

And he very nearly won the Michelsen Medal as well, finishing runner-up alongside Kangaroo Flat ruckman Angus Macpherson one vote behind Eaglehawk's Ben Thompson.

McKenna won the Nalder Medal with seven votes from the judging panel, while Gisborne's in-and-under clearance machine Flynn Lakey - who had been best on ground at half-time - earned the accompanying AFL Victoria Medal with five votes.

As well as McKenna's three last-term goals, two huge plays in the final quarter in particular will also immediately spring to mind when the stories of Gisborne's 2026 grand final win are retold.

The first was the run-down tackle of Tom Werner as Sandhurst's Matt Wilkinson was about to clear the ball from the Dragons' half-back line just over five minutes in.

After mowing Wilkinson down Werner then spotted up McKenna with a perfectly weighted pass that he marked and converted from 45m to put the Bulldogs in front.

Then two minutes later Sandhurst looked certain to regain the lead when the ball made its way to captain Cooper Smith in the Dragons goal square at the Barnard Street end.

Bulldogs' midfielder James Gray though executed a tackle that forced the ball over the line for a behind in just the type of desperate play that typifies premiership football.

Gray would later help to ice the game when at the 19-minute mark from a boundary throw-in he received a handball from ruckman Lucas Carnell and kicked a checkside goal to put the Bulldogs up by 23 points.

The final dagger through the heart of the Dragons was delivered by Gisborne's Matt Merrett when he marked a pass from Lucas Hannon 55m out, wheeled around onto his right foot and booted his way into a piece of trivia as the player who kicked Gisborne's final goal in the BFNL.

Merrett's goal was also the 7762nd kicked by the Bulldogs across their 491 senior games in the BFNL in which they won 320, lost 170 and drew one.

Saturday's sixth senior premiership in the BFNL came from Gisborne's 10th grand final in the competition, which so very nearly could have been nine flags from 10 appearances if not for three narrow losses against Eaglehawk by two points in 2007, Golden Square by three points in 2012 and Sandhurst by four points in 2024.

Six out of 10 ain't bad though for flags are bloody hard to win - just ask Sandhurst.

The Dragons have finished on top of the ladder for the past four years, played in four consecutive grand finals and won 63 of 76 games during that period.

That's a hell of a lot of winning for only one premiership to show for their efforts as what could have been a dynastic four years has gone begging with grand final defeats in 2023 to Golden Square by six points, last year's huge upset loss at the hands of Eaglehawk when they were unbackable favourites and now Saturday.

In all three of those grand final losses the Dragons have led at three quarter-time, but been outscored a total of 16.8 to 4.8 in final terms.

After Hawthorn's agonising AFL preliminary final defeat to Brisbane later on Saturday Hawthorn coach Sam Mitchell opened his press conference by saying: "if you want to strive for great things you will open yourself up for all sorts of emotion - the greatest of joy and the deepest of pain."

As the Dragons again endure the pain of grand final defeat and rue another opportunity missed, it's the greatest of joy being celebrated by the Bulldogs as the words to their club song attested to when it was sung with gusto for one final time in the BFNL in the sweet glow of premiership glory:

Hurrah, Hurrah! The Gisborne boys are we,

Hurrah, Hurrah! We're happy as can be,

We'll keep the good old flag a-flying high as you can see,

For Gisborne will be premiers of the Bendigo Football League,

Hurrah, Hurrah! We're Bulldogs through and through,

Hurrah, Hurrah! We're Gisborne, staunch and true,

We'll fight our games out to the end, our losses will be few,

For all the boys in Gisborne wear the old red, white, and blue.

Ryan Bourke, Dominic Sullivan, Tom Werner, Flynn Lakey, James Gray, Shane Clough, Liam Rodgers, Zac Vescovi (c), Lachlan Evans, Frank Schipano, Braidon Blake, Dylan Johnstone, Harry Thomas, Adam Brancatisano, Zac Denahy, Jed Denahy, Lucas Carnell, Matt Merrett, Harry Bryant, Will Elliott, Lucas Hannon, Pat McKenna. Coach: Rob Waters

Gisborne 1.4 3.7 7.9 12.12 (84)

Sandhurst 3.6 4.6 7.10 7.13 (55)

GOALS: Gisborne: P.McKenna 5, M.Merrett 2, D.Sullivan 1, S.Clough 1, H.Bryant 1, R.Bourke 1, J.Gray 1; Sandhurst: C.Maxted 2, F.Greene 1, H.Schmetzer 1, C.Smith 1, D.Uerata 1, M.Wilkinson 1

BEST: Gisborne: P.McKenna, F.Lakey, D.Johnstone, Z.Vescovi, D.Sullivan, J.Denahy; Sandhurst: M.Wilkinson, C.Smith, D.Uerata, N.Stagg, J.Howard, J.Coghlan.

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