Unbeaten Bulls narrowly avoid shark bite

Jason Bast – @Jason_Bast

We’re nearing the halfway point of the season and it’s the Bulls and the Bloods who have stamped themselves as the powerhouse pair of division 4. North Brunswick are on top and still undefeated after 8 rounds. Aquinas are hot on their tails waiting on the Bulls to drop one game for them to jump to first with their extremely impressive percentage of 306.42. This week saw Masala cop their third thumping in a row, with the aforementioned Bloods notching up another percentage booster. Parkside and Elsternwick fought it out at Elsternwick Park Oval, with the Wickers coming away wearing the grins. Manningham ran over the top of St Francis Xavier by 135 points and to finish the round, North Brunswick put their seventh win on the board with a close victory over the Eley Park Sharks.

Masala FC 4.8-32 def by Aquinas 29.15-189

It was a big day out for Aquinas’ pair of star forwards as they now boast the top two spots on the goalkicking ladder. Liam Whelan sits in first placed with 41 for the season following a handful of five this week while Patrick Mahon kicked a huge bag of 10 to bump his total up to 33 and jump into second. From a team perspective, Masala will be thankful for the long weekend ahead as their loss to Aquinas marks their third consecutive thrashing and a second loss in a row of over 100 points. The Bloods got off to a flying start kicking eight goals in the first quarter and finishing the first half with 23 scoring shots to 6. At half time, The Bloods held a strong lead of 77 points. Aquinas put on another 21 scoring shots to end the game 157 points ahead of the depleted Tigers.

Elsternwick 11.18-84 def Parkside FC 9.8-62

The second game of the weekend saw Elsternwick take on Parkside, and despite the Wickers being extremely wasteful in the first term, kicking 4.12, they managed to go into the quarter time break 24 points up. In the final three quarters, Elsternwick converted a lot better and finish with another 7.6 for the game to win the game by 22 points. Julian Yeatman was great for Elsternwick ending the game with five majors, while Lewis Yeatman finished best on ground. For Parkside, Thomas Canny did his best for Parkside while Matt Soligo kicked four goals.

Manningham Cobras AFC 28.15-183 def St Francis Xavier OC 7.6-48

The Cobras gave their percentage a nice little boost to keep a solid grip on third place after they demolished The X-Men by a whopping 135 points. It was practically over after the first quarter with Manningham leading 83 to 20 at the first change. By three quarter time, The Cobras were leading St Francis by 89 points and finished them off in the last term, stretching the margin out to 135. Another huge bag of goals was kicked by Kane Maghamez finishing the game with 12 goals and BOG honours. Ayden Sukkel and Chris Jolly were also strong up front with five goals each. Marcus Coe tried his heart out for St Francis in a very disappointing day for the X-Men who are sitting second last on the ladder going into round 9.

Eley Park Sharks 10.14-74 def by North Brunswick AFC 12.16-88

To finish the round off, The Bulls overcame the Sharks in the closest game of the week. While the Bulls remain undefeated heading into Round 9, Eley Park almost pulled off the upset of the year, leading at every break after a great first quarter and an even better second which had them going into halftime 17 points up. North Brunswick pulled the lead back to 1 point heading into the final term and kicked 3.6 to the Sharks’ 1.3 to snatch a 14 point victory from the jaws of defeat. Patrick Notaro and Jake George were the two best up forward for The Bulls, finishing with four and three goals, respectively. Jacob Bruhn had his best game of the year and was rewarded with best on ground in the come from behind victory. Matt Dyson and Tim Miller were great for the Sharks in a game that shouldn’t linger in their minds too long. Hopefully they can bring the same great effort to next week’s clash against Mt Lilydale.

Preview

Round 9 starts off with the Bulls coming up against Elsternwick in an effort to put their eighth win on the board from as many games down at Allard Park. The match of the round comes with the clash between second-placed scoring machine Aquinas and the third-placed Cobras at Aquinas. Down at Mt Lilydale Mercy College, the Rams take on The Eley Park Sharks. The Sharks will be looking to knock of Mt Lilydale with some of the great form that almost upset the Bulls in Round 8. Finishing up the week, Masala and Parkside face off with both sides trying desperately to put some wins on the board.