The Bullies beat their arch-rivals by 54 points in round 3 and 7 points in round 6, but lost by four-goals to the Bloods in round 12.

In some ways this sums up South’s season as a promising start nose-dived after the round 7 win over Port with only wins over Sollies twice and a rousing hard-fought victory over West two weeks ago since.

The loss to the Lions on Saturday was probably the last roll of the dice for South as they will now have to beat centrals and Port and for the Hawks (Port & Sollies) to drop at least one of theirs to sneak into the finals.

In the Big Vee’s favour is that they have the wood over Centrals 8-6 since ’06 but with Hayes’ men hell-bent on finishing Minor Premier and the double-chance Morris, Quigley, Callary, Fuller, Hull, Wilson and Dodd won’t let this win slip. The Bulldogs are fast, good at closing down opponents and unpredictable all ingredients that the Bloods hate to play against. But that pressure over four-quarters has been difficult for South to sustain. This will be a closer contest than it looks but the Bloods will draw away in the last quarter, win comfortably and end the South finals hopes.

Tip: Centrals 20-30