Hart steers Bulldogs in colts decider

Bunbury claimed its first colts premiership since 2006 with a surprising 8.5 (53) to 1.11 (17) victory over Busselton in wet and soggy conditions.

Players on both sides applied plenty of pressure to those in possession and turnovers were plentiful.

Early in the game Jake Dugan was very busy for the Magpies along with Liam Kelly, Fairfax Media Medallist Jarrad Adamson and Ethan Bowman but overall it was Bunbury who looked more likely to score with the Magpies struggling to get past half forward.

On the few occasions they succeeded their forwards were under pressure and all they were able to manage was a snapped goal by Reece Towers early in the second term, a point to Adamson and a couple of forced behinds.

At half-time the Bulldogs led 3.4 to 1.4 which was poor value for the amount of possession Bunbury had and the Pies looked capable of coming back in the second half.

Six minutes into the third quarter came a couple of decisive blows when Adamson left the ground with an injury to his left shoulder leaving Busselton short of rotations as Jacob Emms was already out of the game.

At the same time Eugene Hart, who was getting a fair bit of the ball around the ground, swooped for the Bulldogs fourth, the rain pelted down for a minute or two and then Hart burst through the middle of the ground to goal and have the Bulldogs on a roll, up by 23 points.

The Magpies steadied under the onslaught with Adamson back in the action but minor scores to him and Dillon Sukroo plus another couple of forced behinds had them drifting out of the game with a tally of 1.8.

Hart added his third for the quarter in time on with the benefit of a 50m penalty and then banged through his fourth early in the final term to stamp himself as best on ground after also clearing from defence on a number of occasions.

Despite the Bulldogs' dominance at the final change one hoped the Magpies could find the target kicking with the breeze but it was not to be.

They added just three minor scores as the likes of Jye Graham, Brandon Wallem, Robert Hislop and Matt Partridge followed Hart with plenty of possessions of their own to shut the Magpies down.

Mahoney kicked the goal of the day from outside 50 as the Bulldogs ran out winners by 36 points in what was a surprising result given the three previous clashes during the season.

It was no surprise when Hart, who travels from Colie to play with the Bulldogs, was awarded the Trophies West Medal.

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