Australian Football

Newborough

The Bulldogs commenced in the Mid Gippsland Football League in 1957 and were quick to make their mark, reaching a grand final in only their second season. They lost narrowly on that occasion to Boolarra but they were back the following year to claim their first premiership with an 8.16 (64) to 1.11 (17) grand final defeat of Yinnar.

Somewhat surprisingly after such a promising start the 1960s turned out to be a rather bleak decade for Newborough with the side often struggling. There were no further grand final appearances until 1974 when the Bulldogs went down by 36 points to Hill End. This was the first of four consecutive losing grand finals for Newborough with Trafalgar in 1975, Thorpdale in 1976, and Yarragon in 1977 inflicting the remainder of the damage. The 1978 season brought a fifth straight grand final appearance for the Bulldogs who at long last ‘brought home the bacon’ courtesy of a 17.14 (116) to 17.12 (114) triumph over Hazelwood Churchill.

Eager to flex their muscles the Bulldogs transferred in 1979 to the somewhat tougher Latrobe Valley Football League but their brief stint in this competition yielded no further premierships. The next time Newborough contested a grand final, in 1988, it was back ‘home’ in the MGFL. Opposed by Trafalgar, the Bulldogs won convincingly by 38 points, 13.22 (100) to 8.14 (62). They then went on to defeat the same opposition in the next two grand finals by margins of 7 and 16 points.

Since 1990 Newborough’s seniors have played off for the premiership another ten times, emerging victorious in 1999 and 2000 against Yinnar, 2002 and 2003 at the expense of Trafalgar and 2016 over Yallourn-Yallourn North. In 2017 they qualified for the finals in fifth place but could not get past elimination final opponents Mirboo North. A year later they dropped to eighth place on what is currently a ten team premiership ladder.