Another element I have observed is that many pilot wait until the end of the run to try the brakes.

At that point the elevator has no authority to keep the tail down. Better to hold aft stick with braking while you still have control of the pitch, earlier in the ground roll. This allows you to keep the tail down.

I know that with the ships I fly that are "tail draggers" the sooner you get rid of energy the easier the end of the ground roll.

It's a different approach than most pilots seem to use but it works well.