""A very different looking Bendigo Bombers’ playing group was formed in preparation for the 2011 season. The club had recruited heavily in the off season adding Tory Dickson (Noble Park), Justin Maddern (Kangaroo Flat), Josh Freezer (Old Melbournians), Tom Campbell (Old Melbournians) and myself, previously from Williamstown to the list.

Along with returning Essendon listed players, newly promoted co-captains Ben Duscher and Trent Shinners promised vast improvement during the 2011 season.

Shannon Grant’s second year as coach of the Bendigo side focused primarily on improvement and football education.

The first half of the season placed Bendigo in a great position with wins against North Ballarat, Frankston, Collingwood, Werribee, Geelong and Sandringham.

The new and improved game style was clearly noticeable during this time along with the steady development in first and second year Essendon players Ariel Steinberg, Jake Carlisle, Luke Davis, Michael Ross and Alex Browne along with the Bendigo listed players Ben Duscher, Trent Shinners, Tory Dickson and Sam Dunnel.

The hard work paid off early, placing Bendigo in the top four and a position it could build upon leading into the second half of the year and, with hope, finals.

 

Unfortunately for the Bombers, the second half of the season didn’t continue in the same manner as the first. With losses to several key players through injury and the promotion of Essendon listed players to the senior side, our Bendigo side could only manage three wins out of the last nine games, to finish at seventh position on the ladder.

 

In the first elimination final, we played the Northern Bullants at TEAC Oval in Port Melbourne. The game started promisingly with Bendigo kicking the first three goals of the game, however were overrun late in the game and ended up going down by 28 points and our 2011 season was over.

 

This season we saw encouraging progression in many players’ performances with Bendigo finishing seventh ; one spot better than the performance in the 2010 season.

 

Ben Duscher, along with Kyle Reimers polled the most J.J. Liston Medal votes (League Best and Fairest) with seven. Had Duscher and Shinners not missed games through injury, both would have been well placed for team of the year honors.

 

Many improvements were made over the season and will be built upon leading into the 2012 season.""