The winds of change blow through William Buck Premier

The only thing that’s for certain going into a weekend of footy in 2023: Don’t trust the weather correspondents on Friday night news services. The expectation of thunderstorms for the weekend were high, the rain never came.

However, much like the weather forecasters continuously getting it mucked it. Our William Buck Premier sides continue to throw the ladder into chaos and the pre-game predictions seemingly look silly come 5:00 PM this Saturday evening.

St Kevin’s may have officially put a line through Old Brighton in 2023. The wind playing a significant factor by the beach. St Kevin’s were this time on the right side of the ledger of a close one, having kicked themselves out of it against University Blacks six days ago.

Against the reigning premiers today they fought the good fight through the first half, Ben Pryor got on top of the SKOB defence in the third term with three goals to open up a 19 point lead at three quarter time. However with the aide of the breeze it was SKOB who kicked the final three goals of the match to hold on by three points.

Lochie Filipovic matched up against Will Coates all day, both would be tired boys after stoppage after stoppage. Luke Winter, Tom Fisher, Harry Hill and Cam Hodges spent a lot of time at the feet of the ruckman. Michael Pisker back in for his first game since Round 1 produced a match winning diving attempt in the dying seconds of the match to deny the red and blue victory. The Tonners are in sixth spot on the table with 6 wins, and 6 losses. Just one win from their past six matches last weekend and have Old Scotch awaiting after the Big V bye this weekend coming.

St Kevin’s return to the TH King Oval to face off against University Blues who responded emphatically after last weeks embarrassment.

University Blues did to Old Scotch what Old Scotch did to Uni Blues earlier in the season. Relentless in their pursuit of victory. Turning the tables on a 103 point loss in Round 3, Guy Martyn’s men set up the win with a nine goal to zero opening half.

Will Carrington (4 goals), and Sam Grimley (4 goals) proved to be too strong for the Cardinals defence. Big V representatives Marty Gleeson and Tom Cutler returned to their best form, a week out from facing Perth FL.

The strength of scoring from the opening eight weeks of the year has seemingly dissipated for the Cardinals. One win from their last four matches. In those three losses, a scoreline of 64, 34, and 26. The significance of the loss puts the Cardinals to 8-4 and the 166% take a significant dip. Blues move back up to second spot 9-3 and will regain handy % that went missing last weekend.

With St Kevin’s also moving to 8-4 and facing Blues next week, all eyes will be on how the Cardinals respond against Old Brighton.

A 2-game gap is held from third and fourth spot to fifth and sixth after results today. Maybe the four is just about set, however the finishing order is very much up in the air.

At the other end of the William Buck Premier ladder, the battle to get out of relegation is starting to heat up.

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Old Haileybury are starting to make their presence known. Two wins from their last three matches. This time against Old Melburnians to move four points closer to them in eighth spot. After winning the opening term by a point, the Bloods kept the Navy Blues to just two more goals for the afternoon, while kicking seven themselves.

For Daniel Ward right now, a win is a win, and he’ll take them any way they come right now. However, with the gap closed to just one. Percentage will be important, this win could have been much greater had it not been for inaccuracy in front of goal.

Brede Seccull was back in the side after a significant hamstring injury has hampered his season. Jack Munro was terrific, and James Magner kicked a goal in his second game in a row.

A twelfth consecutive first quarter lost for Old Melburnians. After winning four games in a row, they’re now on a three game losing streak. Assistant coach Mitch Golby was again on the team sheet, George Hurley-Wellington was in for his first senior match of the year. It’s been tough going for Paul Satterley’s men as the OM’s continue to climb up the “players used” ladder in 2023.

Round 13 they’ll be hellbent on stopping this tide, however coming up against an in-form University Blacks at Melbourne Uni Oval suggests they’re going to be up against it. Old Haileybury can move to level with OM’s on the table if they beat Caulfield in a fortnights time.

For the second week in a row, University Blacks fought out a tight, contested affair. This week against Old Xaverians. In 2023, the Blacks have the Xav’s measure. Since they beat the red and black mafia they have gone 4-2 and almost assured themselves of a place in William Buck Premier in 2024. This year has always been about stabilising in the VAFA’s top-flight, something Dale Bower was focused and confident on when he spoke to VAFA Media ahead of Round 2’s contest this year.

Three first quarter goals allowed the Blacks the dream start. Xav’s closed the gap to five points at half-time, before again Blacks pulled away to open up a 24 point lead at half time. The lead was a mountain too big to climb for the home side who slip to 6-6 on the table, falling short by 14 points.

Nick Hey, after his three goals last week kicked two this week apart of the best. No surprises to see Josh Steadman, and Campbell Moorfield the two best players on the ground. Next week they will relish Elsternwick Park, and all VAFA fans will love seeing Moorfield take intercept mark after intercept mark.

Blacks will face OM’s after the rep game, the Old Xaverians have the toughest task in footy, Collegians at the Harry Trott Oval. It will need an almost miracle to knock off the Lions in the current form that they’re in.

Caulfield Grammarians went with Collegians for the opening quarter. But that was it, as the Lions pushed, and prodded their way to a 32 point victory.

Dave Mirra a late withdrawal for the side, saw Ed Greene follow up his four goals last weekend with another four this weekend. Will D’Amico kept his spot in the side and kicked two goals, named amongst the best. Josh Watson was instrumental through the midfield.

Julian Dobosz kicked four for the Fields, Jono Nash, the clubs reserves coach named the best player for Guy McKenna.

They’re heading around the corner in a fortnight to face Old Haileybury, the one win they’ve had this year was against the Bloods. Can they do the double on them and tighten up the relegation battle even further?