HOPES that one of the longest droughts in country football might end were dashed when Pyramid Hill fell to Marong in last season’s grand final.
Having beaten the Panthers twice during the year, including in the second semi-final, the Bulldogs went into the decider full of confidence, but a sometimes ill-disciplined performance and Marong’s greater composure under pressure meant the drought-breaker was not to be.
Pyramid Hill, whose last flag was in 1950, has lost the league’s premier defender in Tom McGregor and star midfielder Damon Hemphill, but a recruiting spree has the Bulldogs primed for another crack at the title.
Coach Nathan Fitzpatrick has focused on the forward line, and giving a chop out to Zach Alford, who has carried the attacking load in recent seasons.
The most intriguing recruit is Kai Daniels, brother of NBA star Dyson Daniels, who will play when not required for Richmond’s VFL side.
Extremely athletic and with good skills, he will feature in the ruck and up forward.
Fitzpatrick, who coached Daniels at under-18 level, did some impressive cloak-and-dagger work to lure the 24-year-old from a reluctant Golden Square.
Ben Bisset from Mount Pleasant will add power to the forward line, coming off 41 goals and being named in the Heathcote league team of the year.
Daniel Frame, another from Mount Pleasant, shapes as the McGregor replacement in defence, while brothers Mitch and Jasper Cheeseman will boost the forward stocks, along with Mitch Langan from Noosa.
The key signing of all may be Ryan Semmel, a serial best-and-fairest winner in country Victorian leagues, with a resume that includes representing Australia in an Amateur Football Council tour of South Africa.
Ben Knight, who finished second in the league’s Harding Medal last season, is back with the Bulldogs.
Ryan Semmel arrives at Pyramid Hill with vast experience and a track record that stacks up with the best players in country Victoria.
He is a three-time winner of the Cheatley Medal for the best-and-fairest player in the Heathcote league when playing for Huntly and has also won B&F awards at Stanhope in the Kyabram league.
In 2014, Semmel was a contestant in the reality TV show, The Recruit, which pitted a range of local footballers against each other in hopes of winning an AFL contract.
He didn’t win, but was ranked by bookies as equal third favourite as the show neared its finale.
Semmel has played for 11 different clubs over the years, including two last season — the East Brighton Vampires and Cohuna in the Central Murray league.
A stint with the Tiwi Bombers in the Northern Territory, where he played nine games and was named in the best players seven times, is among his highlights.
Zach Alford has carried the Bulldogs’ forward line in his two seasons with the club.
Last year he kicked 63 goals as Pyramid Hill made the grand final, kicking at least one goal in all 19 matches including one haul of six and scoring five goals on five occasions.
However, Alford blotted his copybook in the decider, getting sent off in the second quarter for striking ruck man Michael Bradbury.
Marong took a winning lead in the time they were a man down, and Alford accepted a two-week ban for an early guilty plea which will keep him out of the side for the first fortnight of the season.
Clearly, he will want to redeem himself in 2025, and with a new role mixing his forward time with duties as a big-bodied midfielder, Alford is primed to make a big contribution to Pyramid Hill’s bid for that long-awaited premiership win.
Pyramid Hill FC was established in 1890, and in its first ever scratch match the following year, defeated Macorna, 0.3 to 0.0.
The club has changed nicknames, colours and leagues frequently, turning out in the Pyramid Hill District, Mitiamo District, East Loddon, Tandarra-Macorna Line, Northern District, Northern and Echuca, and finally Loddon Valley leagues.
Twice, and for only a season each time, the club split into two teams, Pyramid Hill Rovers and Pyramid Hill Ramblers.
The club’s colours have ranged from blue and gold, through light and dark blue, black and white, and red, white and black, to the current red, white and blue, and the Tricolours have become the Bulldogs.
Pyramid Hill has won six flags in its history, the most recent in 1950 when the team defeated Mitiamo by six points.
In 1995 the Bulldogs joined the Loddon Valley league and have failed to salute in the seniors, although they have won numerous reserves titles.
They have twice won the league best and fairest award, with Billy Micevski in 2022 and Dylan Collis the following season, and took out the goal kicking prize in 2019 through Braidy Dickens.