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DRYSDALECurrent Affiliation: Bellarine Football League (BFL) since 1971 Colours: Brown and gold Emblem: Hawks Senior BFL Premierships: 1976-7, 1985, 2009-10 (5 total) BFL Club Championships: 1975, 1988-9, 1992, 2001-2, 2007, 2010 (9 total) Senior BFL Best and Fairest Awards: Greg Scott 1983; Chris Taylor 1989; Simon Nelis 2004 (3 total) Drysdale's long, noteworthy history had already seen it achieve senior premiership success in various competitions on at least eight occasions prior to the club's admission to the Bellarine Football League, as a founder member, in 1971. The Hawks in fact entered the BFL having contested the previous six Geelong and District Football League grand finals, for wins in 1966, 1969 and 1970. It is therefore somewhat surprising to note that the side struggled during its early years in the new competition, not reaching the finals until 1973, and not winning a final until two years after that when it made it as far as the grand final, only to lose to Queenscliff. This was the first of four consecutive grand final appearances for the Hawks who scored their breakthrough premiership triumph in 1976 at the expense of Torquay before going back to back the following year against Queenscliff. The 1978 season brought a disappointing grand final loss to Portarlington. Drysdale re-emerged as a force during the mid-1980s, going on to contest four senior grand finals for the decade. Only one of these, that of 1985 against Leopold, was won, but it was won in emphatically impressive fashion by 74 points. During the early years of the new century the Hawks fielded some strong teams but they got no closer to claiming a premiership than successive hefty grand final defeats at the hands of Ocean Grove in 2001 and 2002. The end of the decade was more productive and in 2009 and 2010 Drysdale achieved consecutive grand final victories at the expense of Geelong Amateur. Where now? or
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