By Marcus Uhe
Twenty-two points down at the half, on the road, the reigning premiers with their tails up and an animated home crowd cheering on every positive impact the Bulldogs made.
For a period, it felt as though everything Wandin touched turned to gold, as Narre Warren produced one of their least impressive halves of football for the Outer East Football Netball Premier Division football season.
The generally calm and composed Steven Kidd was frustrated at the long break, a man who seldom raised his voice now echoing beyond the change rooms.
And yet by full time, it was his opposite number Nick Adam delivering some hard truths to his players on the field, on the back of a remarkable second half that saw the Magpies completely turn the tables.
Some positional moves, a change in approach, and a lift in intensity saw the Magpies kick seven goals to one after half time to head back to Kalora Park with a stunning 13-point win, 14.12 96 to 12.11 83.
Kidd told his chargers at three-quarter-time that this win would be one of the sweetest they would have this year at the club if they could pull it off, and the post-game beers could have easily been mistaken for cider or soft drink, such was the brilliance of the performance.
To distil the battle into a game of two halves is both undeniably appropriate, and simultaneously unjust, due to what would be left on the cutting room floor.
The ultimate flipping of the script from Narre Warren ensconced the Magpies status as premiership favourites and will make life considerably tougher for the vanquished to repeat last season’s heroics in 2024.
Anticipation for the contest had built for weeks, and Wandin’s win over Woori Yallock in round 14 meant the top two would be in flux if they could make it 11 in a row.
Pat Bruzzese and Tom Toner stood shoulder-to-shoulder at the first bounce, Leiwyn Jones went straight for Will Howe in the Narre Warren forward line and Travis Callahan picked up Aaron Mullett at the other end of the ground.
Daniel Toner missed a chance to open the scoring, where Mullett took his with both hands on the resulting kick out, nailing a trademark long bomb on his lethal left.
Toner would hit back shortly after, but through Jack Manson and another to Mullett, Wandin was dictating terms.
Mullett’s two goals coming from turnovers in the Magpies forward line had alarm bells ringing for the Narre Warren coaching staff, with the speed of Chayce Black already proving a decisive factor.
Narre Warren would work its way back into the contest, but their opponents only had themselves to blame.
Daniel Toner intercepted a Todd Garner kick out from full back and took his chance from directly infront, and ensuing push and shove saw Bruzzese yellow carded, and Toner kick another from the exact same spot.
Mullett kicked his third to match Toner in what was quickly becoming a shootout, but the Bulldogs had three more bullets to fire into their own paws before the first break.
Tom Russell intercepted a Wandin forward 50 entry at half back, and earned a 25-metre penalty for his troubles after receiving a clip to the head.
With Wandin players disputing the call and no one meeting him to stand the mark down the field, Russell showed his wares and played on, looking for Jesse Davies on the lead inside 50.
But Wandin tripled-down on its initial two mistakes, giving away a downfield free kick to one of the Magpies’ best shots on goal, who made no mistake.
Tension bubbled and tempers flared, but Wandin only had itself to blame, a fact Adam made blatantly clear at the first break with a two-point deficit.
Needing a response, Wandin slammed on four goals in six minutes to open the second term and shot to a 22-point lead.
Mullett added another pair to take his haul to five, Sam Mutsaers outmuscled Hayden Dwyer at a forward 50 ruck contest and nailed a flying snap, and a goal line scramble at their defensive end became a Daniel Hirst goal in a matter of moments.
With speed on the ball, the Magpies’ defence was under siege with the type of challenge they so rarely face, and Mullett required a new opponent in Hayden Johnson.
There were shades of the 10-minute maelstrom that ripped last year’s grand final apart, and Narre Warren needed something from its best players.
Into the breach stepped Kurt Mutimer and Tom Toner.
Mutimer goaled to complete a seven-point play, stopping Wandin’s run of goals at four, and Toner followed shortly after with a set shot that cut the margin to just nine points.
Wandin weren’t done with yet, and kicked another three to close the quarter, their advantage at stoppages creating headaches for the black and white brigade time after time.
Like he did in the first term, it would be Russell providing a cool head when Narre Warren most required it, finishing the half with a delicate pass to Hamish West on his own on the outskirts of the forward 50.
West’s goal proved pivotal in cutting the margin to 22 points, a deficit that looked all the more marginable than 28, but few would have predicted what unfolded in the second half.
Kidd spun the magnets at the half with an ambition to unlock some of his key players who battled to influence the opening half.
Davies replaced Dwyer in the ruck, Riley Siwes went into the midfield and Peter Gentile moved to half back, while a clear ethos to slow the game down was evident coming out of the break.
Goals to Tom and Daniel Toner reduced the lead to single figures after 10 minutes, and a tighter defensive unit saw Wandin lose its potency in the forward half.
With Mullett isolated, Patrick Hodgett further afield and Jaworski blanketed, there appeared a lack of scoring threats in the forward half, from even less opportunities.
The rowdy home fans from the first half had reduced to a concerned and anxious hush during a rare scoring drought for the home side so blessed for potency.
When Gentile intercepted a kick out and found Matt Butera taking a courageous mark on the edge of the forward 50, the resulting goal after the three-quarter-time siren saw Wandin held goalless, and the margin just three points at the final break.
An epic final quarter was in store, and begun with the arrival of Howe.
It had been a tough day for the Narre Warren spearhead, and to this point in the game he was without a goal.
He had attempted an unsuccessful checkside shot at goal with Gentile open in the forward 50 earlier in the game, spoiled a teammate in a marking contest and limped away from a tangle with the fence and goal net at the grandstand end in the third quarter, taken out of the contest by the dogged and lengthy Jones.
In the opening minute of the quarter, he shook Jones on the lead and marked deep in the forward pocket at the Clegg Road end.
Despite the high degree of difficulty for the right-footer, he made the task look simple, nailing the drop punt and putting his side in front.
With a fresh taste of the action, he wanted more, and brought down a contested mark from the next centre clearance to make it two goals in a minute.
A classic case of not being his day but being his moment was beginning to unfold, but plenty of time remained in the contest before celebrations could take hold.
Five minutes into the quarter and Brodie Atkins had his second, finally breaking his side’s scoring drought and cutting the lead to within just one kick.
A Bruzzese intercept at half back spelt trouble for the Magpies, but his entry into the forward half was spoilt by teammates colliding with one-another.
Daniel Toner swooped on the lose ball, and where Wandin faulted, Toner made no mistake, finding West on a short lead, who kicked his second.
It was so uncharacteristic from the silky smooth Wandin captain, but endemic of the struggles his side faced in the second half.
The game was in the balance for the next 10 minutes, until Tom Toner stepped forward to ice the contest with a long set shot.
After being tackled high in the forward 50, he wisely used all the time allotted to wind down the clock, and his kick was never in doubt.
An exhausted Magpie squad left the field with a sense of accomplishment, having escaped with a remarkable win with their backs against the walls.
So what was said at half time? Kidd takes us into the rooms.
“When I got in there, the first point I wanted to make was, we’ve got to get better at our contested ball,” he said.
“We were coughing the ball up, they were going harder, we were letting it out too quick and they enjoyed the quickness of the game.
“I said ‘we need to lock the ball in at times, get another stoppage, get some numbers behind the ball, gets structured, set up, so that we can slow them down a bit.’
“That was the initial message, and then it was all calm after that.
“We made a few positional changes to try and give us a little more ascendancy in the middle and in the ruck and up forward.
“We were able to slow the game down a little bit and that enabled us to, when they got it, we were slowing them up and were able to get someone back and clog up space.
“We thought that if we could block off the sideways kick and force them down the line, which I think we did a lot better in the second half, we were able to go from there.”
Kidd was reticent to bestow premiership favouritism, but was full of admiration for the players’ attitude, beginning on the track midweek and carrying into adverse waters on Saturday afternoon.
“Our training on Tuesday was probably the best we trained for a long, long time.
“We are good trainers but Thursday night, they were up, ready, we committed to what we had to do and they were fantastic on Thursday night.
“I think when you get challenged like that and you make some changes, it certainly does give you a lot of confidence going forward.
“It gives the players confidence that, if we change things up and coaches can commit to it, then none of them are responding and asking ‘why’re doing this,’ they just go ‘okay, I’ve just got to play my role.’”
Barring a catastrophe in the final three weeks top spot and a week off appears odds-on for the Magpies, and three wins from three contests against the remainder of the top three stamps their credentials as the real deal – if anyone had any doubts.
Wandin will lick its wounds, acutely aware of the chance slipped through their fingers.
