Week’s rest before the business end of Premier C

By Christian Burgess – Premier C Scribe

Two ladder position changes after round 15. Mazenod regain top spot for the first time since round 12 from Caulfield Grammarians and Williamstown CYMS jump Kew to move to fifth place after their seven goal final term and victory over Caulfield. Coming into a bye and the last month of winter, clubs may have played their final games on the muddy decks, but it didn’t stop the high scoring affairs that we had across the board. Six of the ten teams kicked more than 10 goals as we edge closer to September and the fast paced sunny football that it brings.

Mazenod were back to their best keeping Peninsula to their second lowest score of the season. The Nodders choked the Pirates attack, limiting the Pirates to 47 points below their average score. The Nodders had nine individual goal scorers on the day, registering their second win since their shock loss to Kew two weeks ago and regaining the top spot on the Premier C ladder. The Nodders started well with three unanswered goals and proved a margin too difficult for the Pirates to fight back. Stephen Welsford played his best game for the season and continues his purple patch of form, appearing in his sides best for the fourth consecutive week. Rees Thomas was impressive as he and Bradley Kovac were one the only two players to kick multiple goals. Stefan Barbour was well held to only one goal for the third time this season as Mitchell Kellerman was the only Pirate to kick multiple goals. The Pirates form against top 4 teams have been their worry this season, conceding four losses to Mazenod (twice), Old Ivanhoe and Caulfield, and will have to play Caulfield (rnd 16) and Old Ivanhoe (rnd 18) again before finals begin.

Old Ivanhoe Grammarians were set to demolish Oakleigh from the first bounce as they created a 39 point buffer to quarter time with their near full strength list. Dave Bruno hand fed his midfield at every contest with the forwards capitalising on their entries with six goals in the opening term. Sam Geilings repelled almost every of the Krushers forward entries combining superbly with Will Gough’s raking left boot. The Hoe’s forwards had a ‘day out’, kicking 17 majors, with Adrian Del Monte the man of the moment finishing with six goals but falling just one short from his half ton. Matthew Ferguson managed two majors, combining with Chris Johnson proving to be too many marking options for the Krushers defence. The Hoes went into half time with a nine goal lead and the game looking well and truly over. The Krushers had only 3 goal kickers for the day in Trevor Bromley (3) Tim Doherty (2) and Aaron Cloke (1) and had the Krusher’s converted more often than their 4 goals and 8 behinds in the second half, they would have a much needed better percentage to fight off relegation.

Williamstown CYMS were scintillating in their gallant victory over Caulfield Grammarians. The Cy’s jumped to a 15 point lead at quarter time and kept the Fileds to just the one major. But the Fields 9 scoring shot second term saw them fight back to a five point lead going into the main break. The Fields would only manage one major in the third term as they Cy’s saved their best performance for the last quarter. The Cy’s dominated the final 30 minutes shootout kicking 46 points to the Fields 29. Daniel Calman-Orr was electrifying for the Cy’s adding two goals to his best on ground performance. Mitch Parkinson did more than play his role for the CY’s when he stood up and kicked five goals bringing his season average to two goals per game. Declan Reilly kicked three goals for the fourth time this year and bringing his season tally to 23. Caulfield slipped to second place on the ladder with four points and only 0.05 separating them from the third placed Pirates.

Old Camberwell were too good for Kew on the Wellers home deck. Both sides had their chances in front of goal to extend their leads but inaccuracy made for a tight contest. The third straight win to the Wellers means they extend themselves from the other three teams fighting off relegation and ends Kew’s chances of playing finals. The Wellers held the lead at the first two breaks before Kew come out of the third term with a four point lead. Unfortunately for the Bears, their run stopped there. The Wellers were spectacular in the final term with 10 scoring shots yet only managed 25 points but proved to be enough as the Bears fell short by 13 points at the final siren. James Allen led the charge as the best Weller on the field followed closely by Andrew Clarke who finished with two majors. Michael Henderson was electrifying but the Bears broke club rule number six on a day that ended their finals hopes.

As the battle to fight off relegation continues, Marcellin did their chances of staying in Premier C no harm as they led all day against Ormond at Marcellin College last Saturday.  Four unanswered goals in the second term proved the difference as the match wore on, with Timothy Montagna and Jono Blanch starring for the Eagles. Dimitri Fasoulis played a lone hand for the Monders as he bagged five goals in his strongest performance for the season. The Eagles move to eighth on the ladder and two points ahead of the Krushers, while the Monders remain 10th with three wins. Ormond play sixth placed Kew next weekend whilst Marcellin play fifth placed Williamstown.

In an exciting three rounds to go, with sides fighting for double chances in finals and relegation on the line for the bottom tier, we will cover the games ahead in next weekend’s edition of the record.