Sport
27 August, 2025
Premiership drought broken as Lake Nash beats Buffs
The Bulldogs won a thrilling decider at Legend Oval on Saturday.
The Lake Nash Bulldogs are the AFL Mount Isa premiers after they produced a come-from-behind win in a thrilling grand final on Saturday afternoon.
Veteran goal umpire Dennis Petrie said he didn’t think a Lake Nash side had won a grand final for more than 20 years.
Based out of Alpurrurulam near Lake Nash Station in the Northern Territory – although many players live in Mount Isa or in between – the Bulldogs had to fight back three times in the last quarter to win the grand final.
The Buffaloes, who were the raging favourites, led by five points heading into the final stanza, but couldn’t shake the Lake Nash side, who had the advantage of the wind at Legend Oval.
That was probably the biggest mistake the Buffs made – winning the toss and opting to kick against the wind in the final quarter – but it was a match with little room for error.
The reigning premiers looked the goods early and led by three goals at one stage, but hard work from the Dogs got them back in the contest at half-time.
They say the third term is the premiership quarter and it was the work of Lake Nash after the break that set up the victory.
The Bulldogs showed plenty of fight to keep themselves in the contest as Buffs kicked to the scoring end.
From 4.10 (34) to 4.5 (29) at the final break, Lake Nash went on to win 7.9 (51) to 6.10 (46).
A big crowd was fairly well behaved, with a large police and security presence on-hand at the venue.
Two players were sent off in the final quarter after tensions boiled over, but there were no major incidents to report.