Bombs away as Bay and Basin prepare to tackle their first senior grand final

Nathan Darvill thought his days playing AFL were over when he suffered a serious knee injury that required surgery in 2022.

After 20 years in the military and playing sport he needed a complete replacement of his right knee, and doctors said he could no longer play contact sport.

He wanted to stay involved in the South Coast AFL competition and took to umpiring in 2024 as a way to stay connected without the risk of tackles and body collisions damaging his knee, but soon found himself craving more.

And he realised his new knee was up to the challenge.

“This knee replacement’s almost better than the original knee I had, I’ve lost 30 kilos, I’m 86 kilos now and I’m playing the best footy of my life at 42 years of age,” Darvill said.

He knew he still had a few years left “so I decided to come back”.

Darvill has been one of the inclusions this year that has helped the Bay and Basin Bombers reach their first grand final in just their third year of playing senior football.

They will face the Figtree Kangaroos A team in the reserve grade grand final at Bomaderry’s Artie Smith Oval on Saturday, September 13, with the game kicking off at 10.50am.

It is part of a big day of AFL grand final action that includes four games, headlined by the premier men’s decider at 3.10pm.

Entry is $10 for adults, $5 concession, and children under 18 are free, with full bar and canteen facilities available during the family friendly day that includes a children’s playground at the oval.

Darvill had previously played with the Ulladulla Dockers, but during his time umpiring he had been impressed by the atmosphere surrounding the Bombers, and started training with the club late last season ahead to switching to the Bay and Basin side this year.

With the unable to field a senior men’s team this year, a handful of other experienced players also made the switch, adding to the strength that had enabled the Bombers to reach the preliminary finals in the previous two seasons.

Darvill said other additions to the team included full-forward Trae McClear – a young player who was the team’s leading goal kicker for the season, and was second min the league with 35 goals.

The Bombers had also picked up some young players including Daniel Hylton-Cummins, Rhys Wilson and Caleb “Curly” Haig who had little to no AFL experiences, but had shown plenty of talent.

“They’ve comer into the team this year and completely flipped the script,” Darvill said.

It’s like they’ve been playing for years.”

They have been ably led by the team’s co-captains Scott Proctor and Dane Hallinan.

Both are on-ballers with Proctor gaining a reputation for being as hard as nails while also proving handy in front of goals, while Hallinan is great in the air, often outmarking taller and bigger opponents through skilful use of his body.

Together they have formed the basis of what Darvill described as “a handy, well-balanced team” that won 14 of its 15 games during the season – with many of the wins coming by 50 points or more.

The only loss was against Figtree A, although the Bombers beat their grand final opponents twice during the regular season and again two weeks ago in the qualifying final.