Bendigo Bombers down BFL All-Stars at QEO

THE Bendigo Bombers registered a four-goal win over the Bendigo Football League All Stars in a one-off bushfire appeal match this week.
In a first for the code, a VFL club took on a Victorian regional league specifically to raise funds for victims of February’s Black Saturday fires which came within two kilometres of Bendigo’s city centre.
The match was played on the Labour Day holiday Monday in front of a huge Queen Elizabeth Oval crowd.
The Bombers wrapped up their eventual victory with a scintillating first quarter, booting six goals to one.
In fact, the VFL side had 6.3 (39) on the board before former Castlemaine gun spearhead and present day Central Victorian Football CEO Steven Oliver booted the BFL’s first.
Simon Weekly was the livewire in the Bombers’ front half. The 2007 BFL Rookie of the Year landed two of his four goals for the day in the opening stanza and was busy matchlong while big Christian Bock controlled the ruck battles.
BFL skipper and centreman Shannon Milward tried everything to get his side moving, but woeful field kicking and misdirected handpasses by the Blue and Golds turned the ball over far too often.
Trailing by 39 points at half-time, the BFL side came out a different unit for the third quarter. Six pointers to Oliver, Justin Maddern, Shaun Bergin and Darren Farrugia brought the crowd to life.
Those four, unanswered goals reduced the margin to 15 points as the Blue and Golds finally started to hit their targets.
But gradually the Bomber backline, led by Tyson Slattery, re-asserted their first half ascendancy and the VFL side steadied.
First Kade Klemke goaled from a forward thrust. Right on the three-quarter time siren Dash Barrolli soared high in the goal square to take the mark-of-the-day.
His goal after the siren restored a 29-point buffer to the Bombers. Again the All-Stars reduced the deficit with last quarter majors to Brady Herdman and Oliver, but Essendon’s Irish recruit Michael Quinn put the game out of reach for the BFL.
Quinn broke clear of a midfield contest and kicked the final goal of the day, on the run.
Even though the BFL side outscored the Bombers eight goals to six after quarter-time, the damage had been done in those opening 25 minutes through the slick teamwork of the VFL players.
Of the Essendon-listed players, Quinn, Thomas German, Bock and back half general Slattery were the most prominent.

Bendigo Bombers 6.3         8.7           10.9          12.11 (83)
BFL All-Stars 1.1          2.4             6.4             9.5  (59)

GOALS Bendigo Bombers: Simon Weekly 4, Michael Still, Brent Chapman, Troy Coates, Kade Klemke, Stacey Fiske, Ky Miller, Dash Barrolli, Michael Quinn. BFL All-Stars: Steven Oliver 3, Justin Maddern 2, Brady Herdman, Darren Farrugia, Lee Coghlan, Shaun Bergin.
BEST Bendigo Bombers: Simon Weekly, Christian Bock, Blair Holmes, Tyson Slattery, Michael Quinn, Thomas German. BFL All-Stars: Shannon Milward, Ollie Messaoudi, Justin Maddern, Grant Ford, Malcolm Borchard, Shaun Bergin.

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