Bulls defeat the undefeated Power House while Snakes achieve a season best victory

Round 8 of the Men’s Division 3 competition proved to be an exciting one as the gap between the top four and the trailing pack gets tighter.

Three matches in last week’s matches were decided by 19 points or less. On the other side of the spectrum, Richmond Central would break North Brunswick’s record of the biggest winning margin this season.

North Brunswick becomes the first team to defeat Power House this season, winning by seven points in a ding dong battle.

It would be a tight contest between the ladder leaders and second place, with neither team able to generate many scoring opportunities.

Both sides would trade leads, with North Brunswick leading at quarter time and Power House leading at half time.

However, the game would break open in the third with the Bulls able to keep Power House scoreless, which proved to be the difference between the two sides.

For Bulls coach Domenic Fontana, he felt this was a result of his side making better decisions with the ball in the second half, which created better opportunities on goal.

Power House coach Nick Cox felt his side “didn’t take our chances in front of goal and we just fell down with basic skill errors” during that stage.

Richmond Central delivered the biggest winning margin this season with a thumping 237-point victory over Eley Park to jump into third place. The Snakes are one of three sides with a percentage over 200!

The Snakes were dominant from start to finish, consistently scoring between eight to ten goals in each quarter as they ran up the scoreboard.

On the scoring end, it would be Jack Bilson who led the way for Richmond Central, scoring 11 goals with a further eleven players getting on the goal sheet.

On the defensive end, the Snakes were even stronger as they held Eley Park to just 13 points all game.

While their measuring stick remains their fellow top four sides, having such a big victory should only give them confidence going into the bye of being able to contend with those sides.

This result for Eley Park is yet another loss as they sit 0-8 and appear unlikely to find a win anytime soon.

With the bye next week, it should provide a great opportunity to reset for the second half of the season.

After starting the season 6-0, Wattle Park has now suffered consecutive defeats as Box Hill North upset the Animals in a 10-point victory.

The game proved to be a close affair with Wattle Park looking comfortable throughout the first half, having held a lead right up until the main break; entering halftime with a 22-point buffer.

But the Demons were able to flip the switch in the second half with their physicality around the ball helping contribute to kicking six unanswered goals in the third.

This would give them the lead at three-quarter time, which they held onto throughout the fourth.

With this win, the Demons become the first side outside of the top four to defeat a team within it. As a result, player-coach Beau Parthenides feels confident that Box Hill North can really compete for a finals spot.

While Wattle Park has now had back-to-back defeats, there are no signs of panic stations just yet. They will take full advantage of the upcoming league-wide Bye Round to regroup.

They could have won this match had they been more accurate than 12.16, but alas, it was not to be.

La Trobe University has won the University derby, having successively defeated Swinburne University by 19 points.

The Trobers led for the vast majority of the game, but Swinburne was always within striking distance, with the margin staying within four goals throughout.

Swinburne did manage to get the margin to within four points, but La Trobe kicked three of the last four goals to ice the result in their favour.

It is a step in the right direction for Andy Castles’ men, given that La Trobe lost both of their matches against Swinburne last season.

Once again, the majority of Swinburne’s goal came through the combination of Simon Heather and Nick Ferguson.

In this match, they would score eight of Swinburne’s nine, showing how reliant they are on these two to perform.

If they can spread the goals around the team, they’ll prove to be far more dangerous going forward.

Albert Park managed to achieve a resounding 141-point win against Chadstone.

The Falcons got out to a red-hot start, managing to boot 8.1 in the first quarter. They would maintain their accuracy for the game, with Albert Park scoring 26.9 for the match.

Their goalkicking efforts would be led by Thomas Wilson and Will Zaghis, who kicked nine goals and six goals respectively.

It is the first time that the Falcons have broken even on their win-loss record this season, having started 0-3.

However, player-coach Jack Amies was best pleased with the defensive efforts to hold the Synners to just 24 points.

Chadstone coach Ian Ledder was disappointed by the result. He feels now that their performance against the Falcons was a backwards step after making progress in their first victory against Eley Park in Round 7.

He also put the result down to his team not being able to follow their game plan and reverting back to a kick-and-hope strategy, which he’ll look to fix in the second half of the season.

Round 9 will serve as the first opportunity for some teams to get revenge, as it is the first week that the fixture repeats itself.

Box Hill North will hope to follow up their win against Wattle Park with another victory against a top four side in Richmond Central. A win for the Demons would make the race for fourth place well and truly on.

Albert Park faces a tough assignment against North Brunswick. The Falcons have shown to be competitive against the top four sides, but the Bulls are determined to extend their winning streak to seven games.

La Trobe will be keen to keep in touch with the chasing pack for finals as they take on Chadstone. It’s not a given that the Trobers will win, having only beaten the Synners by nine points last year, but they should go in as favourites.

Swinburne is hoping to play a much better game against Power House than they did in Round 1. They do have the advantage of being home at St James Park, but with Power House coming off their first loss and the bye, it should give the ladder leaders some extra motivation to win big.

Wattle Park should return to winning ways when they take on Eley Park. It’ll be the Animals’ first home game since Round 6, which should only help their cause.