Ton of fun at Brighton as Xavs regroup

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Nick Armistead – @NickArmistead

The week leading into Round 4 was far from ideal for Old Xaverians after senior coach, James McDonald, announced his resignation on Monday night. The team sat 0-3 and were dealing with injuries to key personnel such as Dan Noonan, so the need to galvanise from a playing group perspective was paramount to ending their winless run against Old Brighton at the Beach Oval. Assistants, Dan Donati and Pat Hawkins, took the coaching reins for the weekend and for three and half quarters, Xavs toiled bravely. They led by four points at the 25-minute mark of the final term; however, as they have done all year, the Tonners’ constant pressure on the ball carrier and elite work-rate allowed them to end the game with three straight goals and run out 14-point winners. Harry Hill, Elliot Le Grice and Dylan Verney were outstanding for the Tonners, while Matt Margin, Matt Handley and Brendan Goss kicked three goals each for Xavs. Any question marks surrounding the legitimacy of the Tonners’ potential finals run in William Buck Premier have officially been quashed and it would not surprise if Hill is leading the Woodrow Medal count at this point of the season; they’re winning and the goal kicking midfielder is at the forefront of their success. Signs of improvement were rife for Xavs with Daniel Stanford, Alex Trigar and Sam Ralph leading the way. A home game against SBMT this weekend will provide a new challenge and a lot of eyes will be watching the game with serious interest.

160 years of football history added another chapter over the weekend when Old Melburnians and Old Scotch met for the Australia Rules Cup on the newly redeveloped Elsternwick Park Oval. It was in 1858 when Melbourne Grammar and Scotch College met at the Richmond Paddock (Yarra Park) for the first-ever recorded match of our great game and, while the schools did battle on Friday for the Cordner-Eggleston Cup, the clubs met on Saturday with OMs running out eight-point winners. The Cardinals led by five points at the main break but five goals to three in the second half gave OMs their second straight win and took their tally to 2-2. OMs would be ecstatic they found a way to win with Tom Paule and Nick De Steiger both sidelined with injury. Matt Thomas was the standout operator for OMs while Jack Bull mirrored his performance for the Cardinals. While they are yet to register a win in 2018, the Cardinals’ defence is stacking up against the rest of the competition as they rank fourth with an average of 73.5 points against. Thus far they’ve kept Collegians (61), Brighton (82) & OMs (70) to either their lowest or second-lowest score of the year.

The thought of four straight losses was unfathomable for Uni Blues given their talent-riddled list and they were unrelenting against De La Salle, running out 53-point winners at Waverly Oval. They’d lost Jeremy Mugavin (injury) and Angus Milham (VFL) but welcomed back George Cameron who helped the midfield recapture its hardened edge and contested ball-winning ways. Ryan Eade, Sam Schulz and Ross Young were unstoppable, while Tim Harper, Tom Quinn and Kieran Harper reaped the benefits up forward with three goals each. Despite the team’s 1-3 start, Ayce Cordy is the form ruckman of the competition and was once again outstanding with two goals while Hamish McInnes debuted and used his elite punting skills to pinpoint targets all day. De La Salle were well represented by Jake Williams and young gun, Liam Murphy, but still have the least points for (244) and most against (423). On a positive note, the De La Sallians had two Woodrow Medallists plying their trade in the reserves, Matt Fieldsend and David Lowe, as well as Michael Griechen, Jack Vickers, Dimitri Fasoulis, Steve Hogan and Joe Black. So, while things aren’t heading in the direction envisaged prior to the season, there are plenty of options to help turn it around soon.

The defending champions pieced together a dominant second and third term with seven unanswered goals and ran over Old Trinity by 42 points at TH King Oval. SKOB’s knack for blowing teams away in the space of a quarter continues in 2018, with 8-3 vs Blues (Q4), 4-1 vs OMs (Q2 & Q4) and 6-1 vs OX (Q2) proving they can flick the switch at any given time. Shaun Kennedy top-scored with four goals and no doubt had the double cobra on display, while small forward Billy Kanakis kicked three and took his season tally to 15 where he is ranked number one in the competition. After three straight wins, the loss gives the T’s perspective on where they are currently situated against the very best in the competition. Despite giving up those seven unanswered goals in Q2 and Q3, the T’s had just two less scoring shots than SKOB (23-21) and were within five points during Q1 and Q4. Harry Tinney and Anthony Scott are on another level right now for the T’s, while Gabe Hamilton and Jake Steinhart continued their outstanding form. They host De La Salle on home soil this coming weekend in what promises to be a fast-paced blockbuster and will be able to use lessons learnt from Round 4 as they strive for their fourth win of the year.

Collegians and St Bedes/Mentone Tigers found themselves tied at 34-34 at half time before the Lions accelerated with 10 goals to four in the second and ran out 32-point winners at Brindisi St Oval. Anthony Bruhn returned from Footscray VFL duties and kicked four important goals for the Lions, while Corey Cassidy, Nick Dixon and Courtney Hylton were standouts. The Lions return to the Trott this weekend for a clash against OMs and the chance to go 5-0 for the second year in a row. The Tigers sit 1-3 but in sixth spot on the ladder as they continue to find themselves within games for lengthy periods. They had three more scoring shots than the Lions (28-25) but were let down by inaccuracy, kicking 8.20. Michael Barnes is in fantastic form and that continued over the weekend, while Liam Sumner’s second game produced two goals as he works his way into the season.