The race for the top 4 heats up in Div 1 Men’s

Mitch Dyer

To kick things off for round 10 action, we saw the top take on the bottom with the ladder leading Kew travelling to the bottom of the table St Marys Salesian.  It didn’t take long for the dominance to be on display, with Kew roosting home 14 majors in the first half of football, with their forward line on display with 5 different multi goal scorers.  This game was always sure to be a simple execution for the Bears and with a 122 point thumping that’s exactly how it went down.

The next game on the agenda was sure to be a cracker and it lived up to the hype, as Old Camberwell stared down the barrel of PEGS for a Saturday afternoon blockbuster.  It was always going to be hard to separate the two and the scoring indicated just that, with 4 points being the largest lead into any break either side was going to look to their goal kickers to get the job done.  PEGS have been dominant in closing out games in 2022, and they managed to kick away from this Camberwell outfit, to run out 20 point winners, with best on game honours going to Alec Binns and his 2 goal performance for PEGS.

Moving into a clash that would really help shape the race for the top 4 with Oakleigh, who heading into the game were sitting in 4th, and Old Peninsula who are currently sitting in the middle of the table.  With Oakleigh being able to kick big scores and dominate at please it was going to be hard for Old Peninsula to take the 4 points, but it certainly didn’t go without effort.  Leading into the half Old Peninsula had dominated Oakleigh leaving them with just 1 major to the half, and coming into the 4th quarter they had still maintained a 5 point lead.  It was not to be for the Old Peninsula outfit sadly, with Oakleigh flexing their muscles and kicking away off the Boot of Aaron Cloke with his 7 majors.

Moving on to the matchup between Therry Penola and Prahran Assumption, these two sides meet at a pivotal part of their respective seasons.  Therry Penola is always an interesting case as they are a side that can really get after you if you leave the door open, and that’s exactly what Prahran Assumption did on Saturday afternoon.  Not only did they leave the door open they welcomed them right inside, not hitting the front for the entire afternoon until the final quarter where they managed to squeeze home a 9 point victory off the boot of Matthew Clifford and his 5 big ones to get them over the line.

The final game of round 10 action went down at Packer Park, where Glen Eira set out to secure the 4 points over a fluctuating Whitefriars at their home ground.  It was a quick start that set things well for Glen Eira as they kicked away early and maintained for a comfortable win at home, and it was probably a moment now for Whitefriars where you now want to see what can happen over the next 8 rounds, and see just how many wins you can scrape together in the process for the remainder of the season.  For Glen Eira, this is a really good statement for them and their ambition to stay around the mark for a potential top 4 as the season begins to wind down.