Division 3 Men’s welcomes newcomers in style

Mitch Dyer

You never quite know what you’re going to get when teams rise and fall into new divisions, but if Power House is anything to go by, it’s that they were one division up for a reason.

Coming out swinging against last year’s grand finalists in Division 4, the men from St Kilda set out to make a statement, destroying Swinburne by a staggering 82 points. Coach Jeff Scotland and his men walked into Ross Gregory Oval on Saturday with one thing on their minds: to prove to the competition that they are the force to be reckoned with.

Opening with an onslaught of six goals in the first quarter, the team led by the boot of Michael Timms left no stone unturned with relentless pressure and a barrage of inside fifties that left the backline of Swinburne out on their feet for all four quarters.

For Power House, the win is more than just this Division 3 result. The club has registered wins for the Seniors, Reserves, and Women’s side all in one day, and amazingly they were alone in this feat.

After a name change for the 2023 season, the Wattle Park Animals released the beast across the board, recording wins for every side. However, it was their big win over last year’s second-best side in Elsternwick that capped off a magical Sunday.

Led by Harry Davis, the animals were tested by Elsternwick with sleeting rain and Melbourne’s classic cold Saturday’s, showing no signs of slowing the scoring of each side.

It was as back and forth as we saw a game on the weekend, with Elsternwick sitting three points ahead at the first change with Wattle Park booting five behinds. From there, the accuracy for the animals didn’t get much better, registering 6 behinds in the second before steadying and finding the big sticks in the second half.

It went down to the wire at Bennettswood sport ground, but in the end, the Animals managed to outlast a fighting Elsternwick to get up by just eight points in the season opener. Although eight doesn’t seem like much, the Animals booted 16 points, which I’m sure coach Glenn Hopkins will be addressing ahead of their round two matchup against Powerhouse.

Moving on to the battle of the eastern suburbs, Richmond hosted Canterbury down at the infamous Kevin Bartlett reserve in what was a great opportunity for the Snakes to get their season off to a great start against the class of the competition, the Cobras.

It was an even affair to begin before the Cobras lit the match and watched the bomb go off in the second quarter, dancing away from a 1-point deficit to lead by 42 into the half. From there, they drilled another four majors in the third before parking the bus and running out 47-point winners.

Canterbury’s side is brimming with talent, with Trent Lowden launching four through the big sticks, and the ultimate football X-Factor, Mitch Szabo, showing his aerial and quick step skills all afternoon.

The final game of the round was between Hawthorn, taking on Division 4 champs La Trobe.

It’s hard coming into a new division, and there was no bigger wake-up call than what Mark Murray and his Hawthorn side dealt to La Trobe. In it until quarter time, the Hawks penetrated inside 50 and didn’t take their foot off the gas until the final siren, amassing 18.16 on the scoreboard to nearly crack the ton and win by 93 points.

Hawthorn finished stronger with a final term of 9 goals, Kenny (6 goals) and Raiti (4 goals), they were prolific in front of goals and proved to be a handful for La Trobe’s back line. Credit to Matthew Ogle who did not stop trying all day. He was named the club’s best player, along with Benetti-Baker, Richardson and Miller.

La Trobe will look to bounce back in the grand final rematch against Swinburne will unfurl the 2022 premiership flag.