Miners’ misery over

By Gavin Staindl
THE season from hell is finally over for the Berwick Miners who were put out of their misery by the Bay City Buccaneers with a 22-0 whitewash at Sydney Pargeter Reserve.
The Miners went through the 15-round season without a victory and in a mud-slog on Saturday the finals-bound Buccaneers finally put the Miners’ season to rest.
Berwick’s passing game was rendered useless in the face of strong winds and persistent rain and coach Mel Martin once again had to unwillingly rely on the running game that could do little against the stingiest defence in Victorian gridiron.
With the bye next week, Bay City played its full side and tore the spiritless Miners apart in the first half.
“We did not play particularly well in the first half,” Martin said.
“I gave them a spray at half time … they were just not playing with the right attitude.”
The Miners returned from the half with an improved outlook but failed to resurrect the game as Bay City went on to record its 11th win.
The last game of the season is also the last game for tight end Lee Lindsay, who has retired after 13 years, while the gutsy Shahid Malimar was also farewelled after seven years at the Miners.
The two Miners will be joined by several others who are expected to announce their retirement in the next few days.
Martin described the year as frustrating but said he believed a successful season was around the corner.
“I had people from the league coming up to me and saying we’re not that far off the mark, we just lack the killer punch to finish games off,” he said.
“Whether it was a slight mistake or an error, something came up that meant we could not get over the line” Martin said.
Martin has expressed his intention to remain as Miners head coach next year and he will continue to scout talent throughout the summer with an emphasis on building his offensive line.
“We’ll be recruiting hard for next year,” he said.
“We’re going to need big men, especially front liners, and we’re going to need people who can commit to training.
“For those who can’t commit don’t be coming down to the gridiron,” Martin said.