Dragons fire up to bounce back

SANDHURST co-coach Bryce Curnow has praised the Dragons’ resilience and response to their first loss of the 2025 season, after staring down Eaglehawk’s challenge at Canterbury Park last weekend.

The Dragons bounced back from a 12-point defeat against Gisborne to beat the Hawks by 33 points in a match they controlled for large parts.

After the Hawks kicked the first two goals through Jack O’Shannessy and Billy Evans, the Dragons kicked the next 10 to at one stage lead by 48 points.

It was all good news for the Dragons, who welcomed back star forward Fergus Greene from a fibula injury for the first time since round one against Castlemaine.

He made his presence felt immediately with a five-goal haul.

A crucial win over a genuine premiership threat came with many positives for Curnow.

“Our clearance work was something we could perhaps have tidied up, but we won every other stat,” he said.

“We had a fair bit more of the ball and we out-tackled them and beat them in contested possession, which is there strength; and we beat them on ground balls, which is their strength as well.

“We really went to work on how we could beat them and go at their strengths, but also show our own, which is positive.

“It was a nice win with a lot of even contributions across the board.”

Curnow acknowledged the Dragons would need to be even better next time around against the Hawks, who lost for only the second time this season.

“We are fully aware they have some pieces to bring back into their team,” he said.

“They can certainly make a few moves to be stronger as well.

“They will no doubt be a better side next time.

“In saying that I’m pretty proud of the effort. They had something like mid-40 inside 50s and we’ve kept them fairly quiet.”

Star midfielder Lachlan Tardrew again led from the front for the Dragons, who got solid contributions in defence from Liam Ireland and Lachlan Wright.

Curnow was rapt with response to the previous week’s loss.

“I don’t think that we were bad the week before – there were a lot of opportunities we missed,” he said.

“We still walked away thinking we played some good footy.

“(Against the Hawks) we were really professional in our execution of game plan and different things we tried and able to keep the ball off Eaglehawk for large portions of the game. “We’re very happy to have bounced back.”

The Dragons will play Castlemaine after the King’s Birthday weekend break, while Eaglehawk hosts Golden Square.

Elsewhere in round seven, a week after upstaging Sandhurst, Gisborne had to battle hard to shake off seventh-placed Golden Square at Gardiner Reserve.

An upset was on the cards when Golden Square led by 11 points at three-quarter time off the back of a seven-goal third quarter.

But Gisborne saved its best for last with a five-goal to nil final quarter to prevail by 21 points and head into the break at 6-1, a game clear of Eaglehawk in third.

Pat McKenna led the way for Gisborne with four goals.

Strathfieldsaye shored up its spot in the top five with a crucial win over Castlemaine in a thriller.

The Storm endured some nervous moments in the final term, as the Magpies cut into their 13-point three-quarter time lead, but were able to prevail by two points.

At Harry Trott Oval, South Bendigo capped a pleasing first round of matches with a 148-point win over Kangaroo Flat.

Brock Harvey booted seven goals, one of 14 Bloods players to hit the scoreboard.

Round 7 recap: South Bendigo 29.20 (194) def Kangaroo Flat 7.4 (46); Eaglehawk 6.12 (48) lost to Sandhurst 12.9 (81); Strathfieldsaye 11.6 (72) def Castlemaine 9.6 (70); Gisborne 12.17 (89) def Golden Square 10.8 (68).

Round 8 (June 14): Strathfieldsaye v South Bendigo; Gisborne v Kangaroo Flat; Eaglehawk v Golden Square; Castlemaine v Sandhurst.