Melbourne Uni’s win over West Brunswick sees them now eyeing third spot on the ladder

Kristin Sims

It was fourth versus fifth on the ladder when Melbourne Uni took on West Brunswick, the game also marked Melbourne Uni’s inaugural First Nations round. There was a pre game smoking ceremony and the players wore a specially designed guernsey to observe the round. No side had control of the game early on but it was Melbourne Uni who saw the first action on the scoreboard, taking advantage of a fumble by the defence of West Brunswick.

Both teams were playing with high intensity, there was tackling pressure coming from all sides on the ball carrier. As the game went on the even contest continued, as no team could really break through the others defence. The teams showed why they are matched on the ladder, trading possessions of the ball with no clear winner of the contest. When someone did get the ball it was short strings of possession that followed. Scoring shots were also hard for either team, with just five scoring shots in total going into half time. In the third quarter the game still looked like it could go either way at any point.

There were moments in play where West Brunswick looked to be on top of Melbourne Uni as their pressure would go up and they could find some space in attack. It was West Brunwsick who broke through to get their much needed first goal and keep them in the game. Only a few minutes would go by and Melbourne Uni got the return goal to set up for an exciting final term. Melbourne Uni didn’t want to let this game go, and set up a defensive player along the backline to take intercept marks, which kept the momentum of play with Melbourne Uni. One more goal from Melbourne was enough for them to get the victory in a thrilling finish. 

It was all Kew early on in the game against St Marys, with Kew playing a strong attacking game which had St Marys on the defensive from the first bounce. Conditions weren’t great and both teams struggled to keep clean possession of the ball and get a good run on possession. Despite this Kew were the ones who kept the ball for most of the quarter, with St Marys struggling to get the ball moving when they had possession.

The second quarter started the same way with Kew winning the ball at most contests. St Marys were delivering some strong pressure on the ball holder, restricting the movement of Kew and bringing some congested passages of play. Kew were able to break away at times and capitalise on mistakes made by St Marys across the ground. Kew were in control of the possession throughout the game but struggled to have an impact on the scoreboard in the first half of the game. In the third quarter Kew lifted their intensity and took command of the game. Their attack went up and the possession was all their way and offered St Marys no chances.

The high work rate for Kew paid off with a three goal quarter to give them a comfortable lead going into the final term. Kew continued to keep the play locked down in the final term, continuing to deny St Marys any possession of the ball. Kew kicked another three goals in the last term to get a 59 point win, defensively they were also very strong keeping St Marys scoreless for the whole game. 

There was plenty of action early on between Marcellin and Old Xaverians with the ball moving all around the ground. The teams were looking very evenly matched which resulted in fast paced play with the ball turning over often. Marcellin had the better end of the scoreboard with three goals in the first quarter, after some strong defensive plays that resulted in turnovers.

Old Xaverians were struggling to keep up with Marcellin in the second quarter, where Marcellin were at the fall of the ball at contests. There were times when Old Xaverians were able to get some clean attack but Marcellin were strong defensively and were spoiling the momentum quickly. For Marcellin the second quarter is where they should have put the game away, but struggled with accuracy at goals and missed on all six of their attempts. After halftime Old Xavs stepped up their intensity, with some strong defensive pressure that kept the ball away from Kew and resulted in an early goal that got momentum swinging their way.

From here Marcellin had a fight on their hands and worked through to get a goal of their own and push momentum back their way. The final term saw the return of the Marcellin from earlier in the game, upping their defensive pressure to keep the ball away from Old Xaverians. In attack they found space on the ground making some end to end plays and kicking two goals to take out the match by 31 points. 

St Kevins got the scoring off early in their game with Caulfield Grammarians showing the Caulfield backline that they would be busy. After the early goal Caulfield made some strong plays out of the midfield and squared up the ledger, showing St Kevins this wasn’t going to be an easy game for them. In circumstances that are unusual for St Kevins, Caulfield kept control of the game for much of the first term. It was a tight contest to begin the second quarter but it wasn’t long before St Kevins took hold and scored two goals in a row.

Caulfield were taking strong marks in their backline, but St Kevins were picking the kicks off and using the turnovers to gain possession and score. Attack was rare for Caulfield in the second with St Kevins holding them back and stopping any advance into the Caulfield attacking 50. It was only poor kicking from St Kevins that kept Caulfield in the game at half time. Caulfield showed some food passages of play and controlled the game for part of the third quarter. Iit was St Kevins who again made the impact on the scoreboard, through their smart use of the ball kicking overhead and into space.

The final term saw St Kevins change tactics and play a more defensively minded game to protect their lead. Caulfield broke through to get their third goal of the game and did enough defensively to keep St Kevins to just one point in the final term. It wasn’t enough to stop St Kevins from getting the win. The loss for Caulfield now sees them in a fight for third place on the ladder with Melbourne Uni.