Jason Bennett

We’re only three weeks into the new VAFA William Buck Premier Men’s season but reigning premiers COLLEGIANS have already reached an early fork in the road under new coach Jordie McKenzie.

Despite playing periods of dominant football, the Lions have started their premiership defence with narrow losses to Old Melburnians & St Kevin’s and now face a critical home game against ladder-leaders OLD SCOTCH in a huge Anzac Round fixture at Harry Trott Oval.

The Purple Army were up and about when their team led St Kevin’s by 20 points in the third term of last week’s Grand Final rematch but left disappointed when their team were run over by SKOB.

“We played some exciting fast footy at times and had our chances,” said McKenzie. “We were much improved in the contest and the boys gave it their all.”

But Collegians’ reality now is a 0-3 start unless they can go harder for longer against the Cardinals, who have flown out of the blocks with hard-fought wins over Uni Blacks & Fitzroy, who they ended up beating by 59 points after ramming on 7 goals in 13 minutes in time-on of the last quarter.

It promises to be a fantastic contest – the reigning champs on the back foot early against the ladder leaders – and you can catch every moment of our VAFA SEN MATCH OF THE DAY LIVE on the SEN app, SEN.com.au & VAFA.com.au from 1.45pm Saturday.

Elsewhere, FITZROY hunt their first Premier Men’s win when they host OLD XAVERIANS at Brunswick Street Oval.

The Roys have been very competitive in their first two weeks in the top flight, closing to within 16 points entering time-on against Old Scotch before being blown out late.

“We had ten players with less than 15 senior games under their belt and we have to fast-track their development to execute four quarters of A-grade level footy every week,” said Fitzroy coach, Travis Ronaldson.

And they’ll certainly have to go the distance to beat Old Xavs, who proved their resilience and fitness by overpowering Old Melburnians late last week, slamming on 6 goals to 1 in the final term for an impressive win.

Speaking of OLD MELBURNIANS, they will look to return to the winners’ list when they host OLD BRIGHTON in what promises to be a fantastic contest at Elsternwick Park.

The Tonners have made an eye-catching 2-0 start under new coach Marcel Bruin, who has stepped up to the senior role in 2024. An impressive 30-point win over Uni Blues in the opening round was backed up with a gritty 9-point victory over Uni Blacks after scores were locked together at three quarter-time.

But OM’s have shown some glimpses of their own, most notably their 21-point Round 1 win over Collegians. However, they were overwhelmed late by Old Xavs last week and will be keen to put in a strong 4-quarter performance in front of their home faithful.

It promises to be a revealing afternoon.

ST BERNARDS have certainly not looked out-of-place in their return to Premier Men’s this season, coming from behind to win an opening-round thriller over Fitzroy before shocking the Uni Blues with a 5-goal second quarter to lead by 13 points at half-time last week.

They couldn’t quite get over the line at Melbourne Uni Oval, but Blues coach Guy Martyn liked what he saw from the Snowdogs.

“I was really impressed with St Bernards’ intensity and pressure. I know they’re a young side but if they play like that every week, they’ll win plenty of games and well and truly stay up in A-Grade.”

Steve Alessio’s team return home this weekend with the chance to test themselves against the perennial benchmark – ST KEVIN’S.

SKOBs have introduced some new faces to their line-up but have managed to finish over the top of their opposition in the first two rounds, overcoming third-quarter challenges by Old Xavs and then Collegians.

Resilience has been an obvious early trait of the Snowdogs as well, so this one has the potential to be another tight four-quarter struggle.

The final clash of Round 3 is the UNIVERSITY DERBY between BLACKS & BLUES. These games are always spirited affairs and this one will be no different.

The BLUES have recruited superbly, adding the likes of ex-AFL players James STEWART & Sam HAYES to an already powerful line-up.

Stewart’s forward partnership with another ex-AFL player Sam GRIMLEY is going to be a constant headache for opposition defences and it was Grimley who proved the difference maker against the Snowdogs last week, booting 5 goals to go with the 7 he kicked in the opening round.

BLACKS coach Dale Bower will know that pressure up the ground is key in trying to minimise the influence of Grimley & Stewart. His midfield will need to harass delivery into the Blues’ 50 to give his defenders a better chance of quelling the Blues’ firepower.

While Blacks have started 0-2, they’ve been playing very competitive football, leading Old Scotch throughout the first half in Round 1 before being overrun, then pushing Old Brighton right to the wire at Brighton Beach Oval last week.

“I was very proud of how our players committed to the task and we were in it right to the end but could not quite get it done,” said Bower.

But he saw the performance as another step forward. Can they take one more and post their first win of the season against their University rival?

Join the VAFA SEN MATCH OF THE DAY call team for their live coverage of COLLEGIANS vs OLD SCOTCH from 1.45pm Saturday on SEN.com.au & the SEN app. Keep up-to-date with live scores and the latest news at VAFA.com.au