By Tara Murray
Melton will need to do it the hard way if it’s to make it through to the Ballarat Football League grand final.
The Bloods, who finished fifth, had been hoping to make it to the grand final at the first attempt against East Point.
But the Kangaroos jumped out of the blocks with the opening four goals of the game and led by 27 points at quarter-time.
The Bloods got on the board in the second quarter, but could only reduce the margin to 22 points at the main break.
The Kangaroos could have put the game to bed in the third quarter, kicking 2.7.
Instead it left the Bloods with a sniff, down by 29 points at the last break.
The Bloods could not repeat their come from behind feat of last week and lost 12.19 (91)-8.6 (54).
Dyson Stevens, Daniel Walker and Liam Carter kicked three goals each for the Bloods.
Rhys Carter, Lachlan and Daniel Walker were named the Bloods’ best.
The Bloods now play Sebastopol, which won its first final in a long time.
In terrible conditions at Ballarat, Sebastopol defeated Redan 5.3 (33)-3.8 (26) in a knockout semi-final at the weekend.
Redan led early as neither team scored a goal in the first quarter.
Sebastapol broke through for a small lead in the second quarter and held on to it at three-quarter time.
Sebastapol kicked two goals to one in the last quarter to seal the win.
It was a tough day all round for the Bloods, with their under-19s knocked out, losing to Redan 5.11 (41)-4.9 (33).
Darley was knocked out of the reserves, losing to East Point, 8.13 (61)-1.5 (11).
In the netball, Bacchus Marsh was bundled out in C-grade but won through to a preliminary final in the D-grade.
In E-grade, Melton beat Melton South in a local derby semi-final to secure a place in a preliminary final.
