The biggest three-quarter time deficit any AFL team has overcome to win is 45 points. The Whittlesea Football Club could scoff at that. On May 25, Whittlesea, hosting Fitzroy Stars at home in the Northern Football League’s division two, was trailing by 54 points at the final break.
The scoreboard told a bleak tale – Whittlesea 6.10 (46) to the Stars’ 15.10 (100). The Stars had dominated all day, and not even Tom Waterhouse would have given you odds on a Whittlesea win.
“I’d be lying if I said I thought we were a good chance to win, at three-quarter time,” says coach Peter Bugden.
The day already had an auspicious feel about it, with both sides lining up underneath the Aboriginal flag before the match as part of the league’s indigenous round.
Nine goals down, the Eagles threw caution to the wind. Bugden credits assistant coach Brad Dean with the move that changed the game – sending ruckman Jeremy Page forward. He kicked four last-quarter goals, with regular forwards Paul Harrison (centre half-back) and Andrew Fairchild (midfield) sent up the ground.
It was one of the most remarkable quarters in the league’s history. Fitzroy booted three goals, including one to snatch back the lead in red time, to keep the already unbelievable game alive.
But the Eagles kicked the last two goals of the game, making it 13 for the quarter, to win by two points.
“The players were elated; it’s not often you come from nine goals down to win a game of footy,” Bugden says.
“To be honest I was still pretty angry about the way we played in the first three quarters, that was rubbish.
“But we changed a few things. Jeremy Page was dominating, and we started to win the clearances.
“We aim for 15 inside 50s a quarter and we had 22, and kicked 13.4, so that was huge. When you get the momentum in footy, you can certainly do some damage and that’s what we did. Everyone was pretty excited at the ground.”
The win kept Whittlesea on top of the ladder, but Bugden says there’s plenty to work on.
“We’ve got a long way to go,” he says. “Hopefully the boys will start playing with more passion now.”
He couldn’t help but laugh the next afternoon when watching Adelaide overcome a 30-point deficit against North Melbourne to win by a point.
“It was like deja vu,’’ he says.
