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From Bendigo Advertiser
Reported by Luke West
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IT was an important day for the Bendigo Bank Bombers on Saturday.
It was the Bombers’ return to the Queen Elizabeth Oval for the first time in more than a year, and a chance to stand up and show they are capable of mixing it with the best teams in the VFL.

Their opponents were the second-placed Williamstown. Claiming the scalp of the Seagulls would have certainlly been a major step towards the Bombers building their credibility as a genuine premiership threat.

While it started promising with a big crowd passing through the gates, for the first time in 2011 it had turned to disaster by 4.30pm

The final result was a 79-point loss as the Seagulls won 25.16 (166) to 13.9 (87).

“It was a very disappointing result,” Bombers coach Shannon Grant said.

“But we’re a young group with a lot of kids who are still developing and have been getting better every week throughout the course of the year.

“Unfortunately, we just didn’t have a good day today and a few of them didn’t contribute as well as they have been over the past four or five weeks.

“You have those days. We’ve got to review it, learn from it and make sure we move forward.”

The loss was similar to that in round one against the Northern Bullants when the Bombers were on the end of a 76-point hammering.

Just like round one, the Bombers were competitive in the first term, before the wheels fell off.

Rather, to say the Bombers were “competitive” in the first quarter on Saturday is selling them short.

They were the superior team, and that was reflected on the scoreboard when they led by 18 points, 5.2 to 2.2.

The Bombers were set alight in the first term by talented forward Matt Little, playing against his former side.

Little took four marks and kicked three goals in the first quarter – one a brilliant kick from deep in the pocket.

Kyle Reimers was also prominent early in the midfield for the Bombers.

But after such an encouraging start, the Bombers were comprehensively outplayed for the rest of the match.

Within five minutes of the second quarter getting under way, the Bombers’ lead had already been squandered.

The Seagulls took control out of the centre and they upped the ante with their tackle pressure around the stoppages in the second term.

They reaped the rewards on the scoreboard as they piled on 8.5, scoring 13 times from 15 inside-50s.

Bendigo scored only three times for the quarter – a behind to Little, a rushed behind, and a much-needed goal to Mark Williams at the 29-minute mark.

From 18 points up at quarter-time, the Bombers were 27 down at half-time.

The Seagulls kicked the first eight goals of the third term to make the Bombers look anything but a team that had entered the round sitting four points adrift.

From the start of the second quarter to the 25-minute mark of the third term, the Seagulls kicked 16 of the game’s 17 goals to turn what, on paper at least, shaped as a cracking contest into a fizzer.

“They wanted it more than we did today,” Grant said.

“They were a bit harder and a lot better in close, and their dangerous midfield got hold of us and unfortunately, we just didn’t do what we had planned on doing.”

Little finished with six goals to be among Bendigo’s few shining lights. Michael Ross toiled hard across half-back, while key defender Jake Carlisle took a number of strong marks.

Apart from Little, Justin Maddern was Bendigo’s only other multiple goalkicker with three majors.

Western Bulldogs-listed player Jarrad Grant was Williamstown’s best with eight goals.