Enticing battles ahead after some clear cut Div 1 results

Brin Duggan – @BrinDuggan

There are only two teams in every match of football, and unfortunately, every game can only produce one winner and one loser. As fans, we can often feel let down and hard done by, however, in a fairly clear cut round of football, this was not the case in Division 1. The average winning margin for Round 8 was a comfortable 49 points, with the closest margin coming between SMS and the Krushers. Despite the uneven round, I’m tipping Round 9 to produce some much closer results with some enticing match-ups ahead.

Our first winner of Round 8 was SMS who got back to form against Oakleigh after two consecutive losses. In a competitive affair, the Saints made the most of their home ground advantage after an even first quarter, outscoring their opponents by 23-points for the rest of the match. Inaccurate kicking robbed Oakleigh of the chance to knock off the Saints with both sides having 24 shots at goal. For them, Patrick Ioannidis continued his strong form to be named best on ground while the ever-reliable Aaron Cloke paired with first-gamer Jaryd Wines for six goals. It was two 2017 debutants for SMS that did the damage with Daniel Ryan helping himself to seven goals while Henry Wong snared one of his own in a dominant display.

The equal biggest losing margin for the round was Ivanhoe who, after a shock victory over SMS last week, fell to a solid Ormond outfit who now have virtually their full strength side available. Ormond held the Hoes to two goals in the first half while banging through 13 of their own to take a powerful 68-point lead into the main break. Positively for Ivanhoe, they matched the Monders in the second half, eventually going down by 69 points. The Hoes will be thanking Nick Thornely and Bill Jackson who both chipped in a goal and stood strong all day helping keep the margin from blowing out after the main break. For Ormond it was a case of “business as usual” for BOG Matt Hine. In front of goals, Lloyd Andrep whacked through five of the best in his first game of the year.

The biggest winner of the week, in bigger picture terms, was Therry Penola, who picked up their second win of the year against an injury-plagued Brunswick. On the back of the win, Therry jumped three spots on the ladder to now sit in sixth spot. After a relatively even first half that saw Therry leading by 17 at the main break, the home team went on to kick seven goals to two in the third opening up a 48-point three quarter time lead. The premiership quarter told the story as Therry ended 41-point victors. They will be happy with the contributions of the dependable Jarryd Hanlon who kicked three goals and was named BOG. Jedd Taylor and Ben Harding each put in dominant performances and assisted Hanlon superbly. The NOBS face an uphill battle for the rest of the season but can look to Daniel Mott and Dominic Sullivan for inspiration.

In a rematch of the two biggest winners in Division 2 last year, St John’s hosted Preston. Despite what happened last year, a glance at the Division 1 ladder shows two sides with opposite 2017 narratives. Preston rolled into this match at 6-1 while the JOCs held a 2-5 record. The game resulted as expected with Preston rolling to a predictable 45-point victory. It was not all one way for the Bullants, however, as the JOCs outscored them the first and third quarters. For the Bullants, it was Olsen Clark, Marcello Manteit and Liam Sutton who helped them stay to script. For St Johns, Gerard Ennis, in his first game, and Rohan Scott were the standouts.

Our final winners of Round 8 were PEGS, placing the Friars back on the losers list. PEGS started strongly holding the Friars to one goal while kicking five of their own in the first quarter. The Friars held PEGS goalless in the second quarter but still let through 13 scoring shots as PEGS sprayed it every which way in front of goal. A relatively more accurate second half saw PEGS boot 11.9 en route to 43 scoring shots and an emphatic 69-point victory. The Friars were somewhat flattered by the score line but did manage 19 of their own shots on goal. Hewitt Murray was their primary contributor and was named best for the losing side. PEGS saw solid contributions from the usual suspects, Adrian Romanyk and Trent Skurrie, who combined for eight goals while Cam Livori was back at his best and named BOG.

My opinion on Round 9, which we witness after an agonising long weekend without amateur league footy, is as follows; Brunswick will host St Johns in a remarkably important mid-season game in terms of relegation. The NOBS will be thankful for the week off and should come back firing, taking this one out by 20 points. Ormond open their doors to PEGS in a battle of 2 v 3. The high scoring Monders will be favourites considering the talent on the field at the moment but PEGS have been more impressive this season, so I’m tipping them … just. Therry welcome Ivanhoe off the back of their second victory of the season. Leaky defences and gun forwards will make for a shootout that I see Therry claiming at home in the dying moments. Down at W.A Scammell, Oakleigh will want to get back on the winners list when they face Whitefriars. I’m predicting Aaron Cloke will see a lot of the ball and Whitefriars will have trouble stopping him, Oakleigh by plenty. A battle of the incredibly stingy Bullants and high scoring Saints in the final game could end up being more of a chess match than a footy match in which George Wakim and Erwin Leyden end up fighting out a fifty-move stalemate. I’m putting my neck on the line here and tipping a draw between the two teams.