If you looked purely at the second-half of the Central Highlands Football League season, you would be safe in assuming Springbank was one of the premier side's of the competition.
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You would be right, but the Tigers strong run of form came after a slow start to the season, a lot of it thanks to a big injury list at the time.
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Springbank faced an 0-3 start and were fresh from a 105-point belting at the hands of Gordon in round three when it faced Dunnstown in round four.
The Tigers rebounded strongly, however, to pull out a gutsy two-point win over the Towners and steady the ship.
They got through to round six 2-4 and following the first COVID-19 lockdown, began their 2021 season afresh.
Springbank won five games in a row to finish the season and throughout that run, averaged 104.2 points per game and had an average winning margin of 67.6 points.
The forward line partnership of Zak Bozanich and Stephen Staunton became a prominent one, both players having missed games throughout the year due to injury.
Bozanich kicked 19 goals through this five-game win streak, Staunton kicking 18 majors.
Todd Finco found his best form, kicking six goals and being named in the best on three occasions.
Playing assistant coach Andrew Challis returned to the line-up after an early season injury and was a steadying figure for the Tigers on-field, playing a prominent role of the half-back line.
The inclusion of young key defender Isaac Pertzel, who was named in the side's best players in each of its last three games, at the back-end of the year after some injury troubles early in the season was important also.
In the end, the late-season push went unrewarded, COVID-19 abruptly putting an end to the season.
In hindsight, Springbank faced an uphill battle in the finals, as it would have been missing Challis, Bozanich, Finco and James Thompson due to them living in metropolitan Melbourne.
Now that the season is complete, the Tigers can look forward to 2022 with some renewed confidence knowing that when healthy, they are one of the strongest side's in the competition.
Assuming all of their stars mentioned above return, as well as stalwart Billy Driscoll, the side will be in a great position to push towards the top four and its first premiership since it won back-to-back in 2015 and 2016.
Record
7-4, 63.64 per cent games won, 127.40 traditional percentage
Ladder position
Sixth
Leading goalkicker
Zak Bozanich (32)
Season
Round one: defeated by Newlyn 13.8 (86) - 15.10 (100)
Round two: defeated by Buninyong 6.5 (41) - 9.6 (60)
Round three: defeated by Gordon 6.9 (45) - 22.18 (150)
Round four: defeated Dunnstown 8.12 (60) - 7.16 (58)
Round five: defeated Beaufort 17.15 (117) - 8.7 (55)
Round six: defeated by Hepburn 9.6 (60) - 19.10 (124)
Round nine: defeated Ballan 20.17 (137) - 2.1 (13)
Round 10: defeated Clunes 20.11 (131) - 2.3 (15)
Round 11: defeated Learmonth 12.13 (85) - 4.4 (28)
Round 12: defeated Daylesford 11.13 (79) - 11.0 (66)
Round 15: defeated Skipton 13.11 (89) - 9.7 (61)
Round 17: bye
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