Bacchus Marsh is on target for a second consecutive Ballarat Football League grand final appearance.
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The Cobras confirmed their status as premiership favourite with a 42-point victory over a below-par Lake Wendouree at the Eastern Oval on Saturday.
The post-match moods in the camps could have not been more contrasting, with the only consolation for Lakers being that they have a second chance to make amends and stay in the hunt for a flag.
Bacchus Marsh dominated for the best part of three quarters – restricting Lake Wendouree to just two goals in those terms.
It was only in the third stanza, when Lakers took the Cobras out of their comfort zone with a physically tough approach to the ball and man, that Lake Wendouree coach Tim Malone saw what he wanted from his charges.
With Nick Peters, Ash Simpson, Ben Hayes and Malone leading the way, Lake Wendouree cut its deficit from 39 points at half-time to 15 early in the last quarter and within striking distance.
However, Bacchus Marsh was able to steady and crucially kicked the opening goal of the final term and then boot away.
As has been a trend this season, the Cobras disappointed their coach Travis Hodgson in the third quarter.
What he was happy with though was the trademark pressure his players exerted.
Hodgson said pressure has been the key to Bacchus Marsh’s success and it was when this was eased that the door had opened for Lakers.
He did acknowledge how difficult it was to maintain the level of pressure required for four quarters.
For Malone, he has no doubt what went wrong.
“We weren’t prepared to get our hands dirty. It was as simple as that,” he said in reference to the sluggish first half.
Malone said Lakers showed in the third quarter what they were capable of, but there was too little of that type of work rate over the day.
While there were some strong performances for the Cobras in attack via Jethro Calma-Holt (four goals) and Ryley Stuhldreier (three goals), the defensive efforts Lachlan Phyland, Logan Blundell and Daniel Velden were crucial.
Phyland kept Lucas Anderson to a single goal, while Blundell shared the honour with the ever-dangerous Nick Peters, and Velden was rock solid deep in the backline.
Dean Heta was again the dominant ruckman. He did get strong support from Daniel Burton on ball and in attack.
