Bears face Dogs in Serpentine den

PRELIMINARY finalists Bears Lagoon Serpentine and Pyramid Hill meet in Saturday’s start to the Bendigo Bank Loddon Valley FNL senior footy action.

The Bears have home-ground advantage at Gadsden Finance Reserve when the clash starts at 2.15pm.

Recruits to the Bears den include playing coach Jake Wilkinson from Sandhurst and former Fremantle Dockers forward Josh Mellington.

It’s a huge challenge for BLS against a team which defied expectations to finish within 16 points of Marong in last year’s grand final.

Nathan Fitzpatrick is again in charge as non-playing coach of Pyramid Hill. The Bulldogs are bolstered by the return of talented forward Braidy Dickens, Mick Dundon and Brad Ladson.

A Harding medallist as the Valley’s fairest and best in Calivil United’s premiership year of 2017, Ben Knight has left the North Bendigo Bulldogs to play for Pyramid Hill.

After one of the most fruitful recruiting campaigns in country Victoria, Bridgewater starts its quest to not only climb higher than last year’s fourth placing to be number one.

The Mean Machine is on home turf to play Newbridge.

Coached by Rick Ladson, Bridgewater has gained two of the Bendigo FNL’s best of the past decade, Lachlan Sharp from Strathfieldsaye, and Lee Coghlan from Sandhurst.

Both were premiership players for their clubs, Sharp a multiple winner, and both earned the Michelsen Medal as league fairest and best.

Jointly coached by Sam Gale, playing, and Daniel Smith, non-playing, Newbridge also made some strong additions to its squad.

Newcomers for the Maroons include Ed and Jono Aujard, Jackson Hufer and Matt McArthur. Ruckman Ricky Cathie is also back from Wandella.

Unbeaten premiers in ’23, Marong is home at Malone Park to tackle a new-look Mitiamo.

The Linton Jacobs-coached Panthers are likely to have too much firepower through midfield and attack for the Jon Varcoe-coached Superoos to stop.

Maiden Gully YCW Eagles will aim to make a winning start when they play the Anthony Dennis-coached Calivil United at Marist College.

The Eagles are jointly coached by Shawn Filo and former Essendon and Port Adelaide forward Angus Monfries who played 211 AFL games. Inglewood has the bye.