Stampede continues as Bulls demolish Rams

Jason Bast – @Jason_Bast

It was a huge weekend in Division 4 with some massive scores recorded. The Bulls are still on their stampede towards an unbeaten season after they demolished Mt Lilydale by a whopping 140 points. This result sends the Rams another game behind the Sharks in fifth place. Eley Park had a big win of their own against the X-Men down at St Francis Xavier College, that margin blowing out to 78 points. Aquinas made it three big wins for the round as they thumped Parkside by 83 points. The much anticipated top of the table clash between North Brunswick and Aquinas will come next weekend, Round 14, but until then let’s look back at Round 12.

North Brunswick AFC 24.24-168 def Mt Lilydale OC 4.4-28

It appears no one can put an end to North Brunswick’s domination of the competition as they easily ran over the top of the Rams. The Bulls are yet to record any blemish on their record after 12 rounds and they sit comfortably atop the ladder. It was bad news for Mt Lilydale from the get go when the Bulls put on 13 scoring shots to three and opened up a 40-point lead by quarter time. This lead didn’t subside in the second quarter as North Brunswick kicked another eight goals in the term to the Rams’ measly one. Going into the main break with a margin of 86 points, The Bulls were seeing red and wanted the percentage booster, and a percentage booster is what they got as they kicked another 9.13 in the second half to stretch the winning margin out to 140 points. Peter Butler and Jake George were prolific up forward yet again for the Bulls with seven and six goals, respectively. George now moves up to 42 goals for the season, sitting second on the Division 4 leader board. Simon Mair also played a great game for North Brunswick. Not much can be taken away from this game for the Rams, however, Timothy Legg and Sean Gibson both gave it their all.

Aquinas 21.12-138 def Parkside FC 8.7-55

“Aquinas racked up another big win and Liam Whelan kicked another bag” a sentence I am definitely getting used to writing this season. Well, I need to write it again this week as The Bloods dished out a huge 83-point thumping to Parkside down at Aquinas College. The first quarter score was 40 points to one and it was increased to 83 – 14 at the half as The Bloods marched their way to another big win. Parkside managed to stem the bleeding a little in the second half, kicking seven goals, but it was nowhere near enough as Aquinas kicked another eight to stay right behind the Bulls on the ladder. Liam Whelan booted six goals and now sits 10 majors clear on top of the goal kicking leader board. Ashley Naulty managed four of his own and Philip Dyck played a terrific game on his way to best on ground honours. Thomas McKinlay kicked two and was the best on the day for Parkside.

St Francis Xavier OC 13.9-87 def by Eley Park Sharks 26.9 165

Following a slow start to the season, the Eley Park Sharks have found some brilliant form in recent weeks, and in Round 12, they managed to record their fourth consecutive win. They were facing off against bottom-of-the-ladder X-Men at St Francis Xavier College. With the home ground advantage, the X-men may have been feeling hopeful, but a high-scoring first half saw the Sharks leading by 17 points at the first break and then by 31 points at halftime. The second half was much less contested and Eley Park stretched the lead out to 61 by the time the fourth quarter started. The sharks banged home another six goals in the final term to end the game 78-point victors. Jesiah Mcgarvie, who has been in brilliant goal-kicking form over the past four games with 23 goals to his name since Round 9, kicked another eight this week to finish best on ground. David Viola was also active up forward collecting a bag of six himself. For St Francis, Jake Cowan booted four and Daniel Pennant played a very admirable game.

Masala FC vs Elsternwick (No results reported)

Masala: No results reported.

Elsternwick

Best: Geoffrey Hibberd, Peter Cassidy, Alan Patey, Jack Mcloughlin, David Kusetic, Samuel Bishop

Goals: Geoffrey Hibberd 6, Peter Cassidy 2, Nick Myhal 2, Justin Hunter 2, David Grace, James House

Preview

Round 13 is shaping up to be a good one! Masala and St Francis Xavier will battle it out at WJ Turner Reserve in what should be a very close game. Next on the agenda is first vs third as the Cobras will be trying to be the ones to finally put an end to the Bulls’ unbelievable run. North Brunswick are in for a tough two weeks as they’ll come up against Aquinas in Round 14 in what should be the game of the season. Elsternwick will try and take advantage of Mt Lilydale’s form slump when they take on the Rams at Elsternwick Park Oval. Closing out the round, the Eley Park Sharks will go in as the big underdogs as they try and make it five in a row against the high scoring Bloods at Whitehorse Reserve.