Almost too hard to believe? Gisborne senior footballers opened the 2026 season by thrashing a lacklustre Kangaroo Flat by 124 points on Saturday.
The Bulldogs delighted their supporters and coaching personnel with their superior ball-winning ability, and consistency across the four quarters of the match at Gardiner Reserve.
Strong defender Zac Vescovi led the Bulldogs out in his new role of captain, and it was generally one-sided football that unfolded.
Class prevailed, with superlative on-baller Brad Bernacki knocking up gaining possessions and putting them to good use to be best afield.
Bernacki finished with four goals, and Zac Denahy kicked five in a confident display.
Big ruckman Braidon Blake made a great start to the season, and the quick moving Bulldogs were able to keep the visitors under pressure for the entire match.
It wasn’t a case of who would win, but by how much.
Dylan Johnstone, Lachlan Evans and Dominic Sullivan were other Bulldogs to stand out.
The one-sided nature of the match was shown by a half-time scoreboard showing 14.13 to 3.6.
Final scores were 26.20 (176) to 7.10 (52). A real early percentage booster for the ‘Dogs.
Nick Keogh, Aaron Nevins and Jarrell Ratcliffe were the top threesome for The Flat, who play Castlemaine this Saturday.
As one supporter quipped, “Kangaroo Flat will be looking forward to playing Broadford”. This game is in round 4 on May 2.
Gisborne head north to play South Bendigo this Saturday.
There was a huge contrast between the earlier contests for Under 18s and Reserves.
Kangaroo Flat won the Reserves 7.12 (54) to Gisborne 2.5 (17); in the U18s the young Bulldogs dominated as they surged to a 16.19 (115) to 1.2 (8) victory.
