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VAFA Live Coverage – July 27
VAFA Media’s Round 13 live coverage features two William Buck Premier Men’s clashes pivotal to the race for fourth spot. This week’s SEN VAFA Match of the Day sees University Blues host Old
Brin Duggan – @BrinDuggan
After three rounds the season is starting to take some kind of shape, albeit a strange, asymmetrical 10 sided shape. An irregular decagon, if you will. Anyway… What can we make of that shape? Well, in Round 3, Oakleigh have proven the doubters wrong and are sitting in a relatively strong place at 2-1. Preston have thrown their cap in the ring after strong win over Whitefriars, bouncing back from their Round 2 loss. Lastly, sitting pretty at the top of the table, are PEGS and St Mary’s Salesian, who have each stated their early season dominance and remain the only two undefeated teams left in Division 1.
The last round in April lived up to expectations starting with a tight contest between Brunswick NOBSPC and PEGS. On paper, this game was looking to be a dangerous one for the bombers but their first quarter showed no signs of nerves. PEGS kicked the first four goals of the game early through their tall timber, which would ultimately prove to be decisive. The opening of the second term was much better for NOBS who displayed more direction and aggression in play, although the behinds kept on mounting. The gap was closed at halftime, though, NOBS inaccuracy cost them, booting 3.12 to PEGS 5.6. NOBS dominated the scoring shots and had most of the play but trailed overall. In the third quarter, play was tightly contested and late in the term, NOBS managed to hit the front thanks to a hard earned goal. However, their lead proved to be very short-lived as PEGS snuck through two goals in the shadows of three-quarter time to take an 11-point lead. PEGS took that reprieve from Brunnies poor kicking and ran out the game 17-point victors. Brunswick will be disappointed to go down after leading the game in scoring shots 24-21. For the victors, local celebrity Trent Skurrie hit his straps booting three goals and was ably assisted by Hugh Schiavello who bagged three of his own. Best on ground was awarded to Scott Whillas who continued his strong start to the season. For the losing side, there were some strong signs, with Dean Beaumont performing at his toughest and best for the NOBs, while Lachlan Ezard worked hard all day.
Oakleigh headed to Ivanhoe Park to tackle bottom of the ladder Ivanhoe. A first half reality check for them resulted in Ivanhoe putting up 71 points in a prolific start. 22 points down at half time, with an under siege backline, Oakleigh had it all ahead of them. Oaklaigh had one big task for the second half if they were going to win, to stop Ivanhoe star, Reuben Blackmore-Moore. While Blackmore-Moore didn’t slow down much, managing to kick four goals for the game, the Krushers came out firing in the second half. On the back of some key performances, Oakleigh outscored Ivanhoe 77 to 40 in the final two quarters and ran out the game 15-point winners. The victory was due to the individual brilliance of Tim Scott and the Aaron Cloke who were each unstoppable, combining for 10 goals. The whips were cracking all day in this hotly contested affair; Billy Zagontinos was Ivanhoe’s Indiana Jones and kept swinging all day in a best on ground performance.
In Round 1 and 2, the walls were fracturing around them, but St. Johns were quietly mixing up some mortar and had begun patching the cracks. The result? Their first win of the year which came against Div 1 stalwarts, Therry Penola. In a result nobody saw coming, St Johns used a powerful second half to chalk up a four goal win. St Johns were instrumental in limiting the influence of the Egglestone lads and managed to move the ball quickly to their in-form forwards, Mathew Collett and Aaron Thornton. The Spider, Dylan Webb, was superb for St Johns, while Daniel Cattolico fought hard all day. Therry, at 1-2, are under the pump, but Darcy Ryan, Anthony Tana and Justin Crotty (4 goals), will look to use their good form to turn their luck around as we head into Round 4.
Despite losing last week, Preston have again impressed in Division 1. Round 3 pitted them against Whitefriars in a game in which saw them enter as favourites. Preston started strongly and finished even stronger to finish the game 40-points on top of Whitefriars. To the Friars’ credit, they stuck with them for three quarters and threatened to cause a boil over, however, it wasn’t to be, scoring only 3 points in the final quarter. If not for some inaccurate kicking from the Bullants, the 40-point margin could have been less flattering. Unfortunately, you don’t get any points for effort and the loss leaves Whitefriars languishing at 0-3. Daniel Massaroti and Michael Nitas tried their hardest to alter the result, but were lacking support in big moments of the match. For the Bullants, George Warton was named his sides best for the second week running while Lachlan McRedmond claimed 4 snags.
The game of the week, between SMS and Ormond, had everything. It was tight, ferocious and high scoring and it produced an early frontrunner for the flag. Ormond left their kicking boots at home and trailed by eight points at quarter time after converting just one major from eight attempts. Ormond’s failure to capitalise on the scoring end in the first quarter proved costly with SMS taking a 16-point lead into half-time. The Monders exorcised their first quarter demons in the third banging through seven goals and reducing the deficit to two points at the final break. Consequently, the result hinged on a knife’s edge and the tense atmosphere at Ferndale park could have been cut with that same utensil heading into the last quarter. The lead changed multiple times in the final quarter, but the cool heads of the experienced Jos “Poison” op’t Hoog and Ananth “the Panther” Pathirana in the last quarter saw SMS steady the ship and finish the game 10-point victors in our first blockbuster for the year. The combinations of the Simon and Hine boys kept Ormond in the fight while the scoring distribution was evenly spread. Nathan Evans was named best for SMS who fought hard in the midfield all day. Each week in the SMS forward line it seems to be a case of “if one doesn’t get you, the other will”. This week it was Manny Dolan and Jay Canterbury who lit up the forward 50, snagging four goals each.
What lies ahead in Round 4 should provide us with more context on how this season will pan out. Therry will look to scramble the communications of SMS but will be hard pressed to keep the potent SMS forward line under wraps. I see SMS phoning in a comfortable win. PEGS will want to shake the unset mortar of St. Johns loose as they welcome them out West. I expect a continued improvement from St. Johns but I cannot see them holding Trent Skurrie and Adrian Romanyk down, I’m picking PEGS by 30. Oakleigh have proven the doubters wrong recently and will look to keep the streak going against Brunswick. I’m predicting Aaron Cloke to kick a bag of sausage rolls and help Oakleigh to a victory. In Game of the Round, Preston must continue to impress if they hope to take it up to Ormond. This one could go either way but I’m going with a bit of an upset, Preston, at home, by 10 points. Another enthralling game has Whitefriars hosting Ivanhoe. With both sides are still searching for their first win, this will be like a game of hot potato, whoever can absorb the heat will take this one. I expect the in-form players of Ivanhoe to get them over the line in a tight one.
VAFA Media’s Round 13 live coverage features two William Buck Premier Men’s clashes pivotal to the race for fourth spot. This week’s SEN VAFA Match of the Day sees University Blues host Old
Venues for the 2024 VAFA Finals Series have been announced, highlighted by four state league grounds. 131 finals matches across 32 divisions will be played over a seven week period,
A couple of pivotal matches in the finals and relegation races headline Round 13 of VAFA William Buck Premier Men’s. Collegians & Old Xaverians enter the weekend locked together at