Dan Cleary leads Thurgoona to an upset win over Barnawartha in his last match at the helm

Cleary announced in July that he was stepping down with the Bulldogs recently appointing former AFL player Daniel McAlister as his successor next season.

The Bulldogs established a seven point buffer at the first break and were able to hold their nerve to prevail 9.7 (61) to 6.8 (44) in a low-scoring encounter.

The victory meant the Bulldogs missed playing finals for the first time since their 2019 flag triumph by percentage.

Barnawartha, Mitta United and Thurgoona all finished with a 9-9 win-loss record.

But it is the Tigers who will meet Chiltern at Sandy Creek in the elimination final on Sunday, boasting a superior percentage.

Cleary said the victory was reward for effort for his players who have remained competitive in the second-half of the season despite finals always appearing to be a long-shot.

"It was satisfying to finish on a win and a bit of reward for effort for everyone involved at the club," Cleary said.

"For the last six weeks I've been really proud of the group and they have been competitive against all the top-five sides in patches.

"We just haven't been able to sustain it but on Saturday we were able to apply pressure for four-quarters.

"I think it was definitely our best win of the season for sure."

Josh Huggard, Blair Osmond and giant ruckman Tom Osmotherly were the Bulldogs best.

Skipper Tom Rake was also damaging with three goals.

Cleary said he had mixed emotions about missing finals by the barest of margins.

"It's obviously disappointing to miss out on playing finals," he said.

"Hopefully the win provides a bit of momentum heading into the off-season and if Daniel McAlister and the club can land a few recruits, finals is a realistic goal for next year.

"That was the focus in the second half of the season, to remain as competitive as possible and not just fall by the wayside because we were unlikely to make finals.

"I think we were able to achieve that, yes finals would have been nice but the club is in as good a position as can be expected for a side that is outside the top-five.

"Realistically seventh is probably a true reflection of where we are at."

Cleary felt the league was in good shape with one of the most anticipated finals series in recent memory with four genuine flag threats in Kiewa-Sandy Creek, Yackandandah, Beechworth and Chiltern.

ALSO IN SPORT

"It's going to be a cracking finals series and hard to pick who will win the flag," he said.

"Kiewa is hard to tip against after only losing one match all season.

"But from what I've seen playing against those sides, Yackandandah probably impressed me the most.

"Just their ability to spread from the contest and move the footy stood out most to me and they have the game style suited to Sandy Creek.

"Yackandandah was the side that we weren't really able to compete against in patches.

"Especially the second time we played them, we couldn't get anywhere near them."

To read more stories, download The Border Mail news app in the Apple Store or Google Play.

Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content: