Reigning premiers, the Bulls were yet to drop a game whilst the Tigers had suffered a demoralising defeat against Montmorency last week on home soil.
The Bulls were confident of retaining their undefeated start whilst the Tigers were desperate for the all-important, four points.
The Tigers were keen to have quality ruckman and utility Michael Gay back in the side after injury. However his return could not stop the dominance that Bundoora displayed in the first quarter.
The Bulls aptly rampaged through a shocked and injury-ravaged Heidelberg team, kicking four unanswered goals. The Bundoora boys were in a class of their own, spreading well around stoppages and linking through quick handballs and effective kicks to hit up targets in the forward 50m.
Bundoora’s Paul Harrison looked lively and was unlucky to finish the quarter without any majors. Gary Moorcroft and Cameron Cloke teamed up to produce some magic, plummeting the hopes of the solid support base for the Bergs’.
Bull Matty Hyde, did a brilliant job in a sweeper role down back. He often ran the ball through the corridor providing the Bulls with some pace, whilst also creating opportunities for the forwards.
It was only when Caleb Tiller became the beneficiary of a free kick straight in front of goal that the scoreboard seemed a small fraction brighter for the visitors.
The Tigers came out firing in the second quarter and looked like a completely different outfit. Although Matt Dennis put in the first goal, the Tigers lifted their intensity and asserted their dominance around the ground, dominating the contested possession count.
The Tigers’ response was inspiring and contagious as the visitors’ fans found good reason to find voice when Sean Logie kicked a fantastic running goal off the back of coast to coast team work.
Josh Houlihan played an important role for Heidelberg – his work rate around stoppages and at the contested ball made for great viewing. His efforts were rewarded when he kicked truly pegging back a much more manageable margin.
Just when the momentum seemed to be swinging with the Tigers, poor judgement in the Tigers backline led to a very easy goal for Andrew Stellas.
Then Moorcroft popped up from nowhere, much to the locals delight. He twisted and turned his opponent inside out to narrowly squeeze through a most magnificent goal. The Tigers persisted and jagged one back when Allan Young kicked a beauty from a tight angle.
Cloke, who had been kept quiet for much of the first half, seized his opportunity on the boundary close to the clubrooms and split the big sticks. His celebration was fitting, the crowd loved it and were almost ready to jump the fence to hail their gun forward.
The siren sounded on what was a table turning half of local suburban football. Kids streamed onto the ground practising their banana shots on goal whilst wedging a sausage in their mouth. There was a palpable excitement in the air for what was going to be another cracking half of football.
Young drew first blood for the Tigers slotting a goal only one minute into the third quarter. But the Bulls weren’t to be undone, with Salvatore Mammone hitting up the leading Moorcroft to maintain the margin.
Luke Hyatt for the Bulls was creative when he spun his way into the goal square to capitalise on a costly turnover. But from there it was to be a tough quarter for both teams, slugging it out, hunting the ball in large numbers and tackling with great tenacity.
Then Michael Finn, nicknamed ‘Irish’ by the Tiger fans, kicked a good rebounding goal and inspired a second through team mate George Nabbout.
The momentum was swinging Tigers away until Brayden Shaw produced arguably the running goal of the season. He broke lines, ran through players, twisted and slotted a beauty right on three-quarter time.
Locals packed in at the Bulls last address, as head coach Phil Maylin stressed to his players the importance of concentration, applying pressure around the ball and keeping to the teams set structures.
Brent Marshall proved quite a handy small forward when he crumbed the pack to snap an around the body goal. Marshall’s work rate and intensity was reflective of the whole Bundoora team unit.
Jess Sinclair displayed why he once ran with the best in the AFL, providing great service to his forwards but overall his silkiness was not enough. The Tigers put up great fight but were ultimately outweighed by the same margin as the last Saturday of last September.
Final score: Bundoora 14.10 (94) def Heidelberg 13.6 (84)
