Panthers pounce late, CYs into the four

After eight rounds of football in 2024, Williamstown CYMS found itself marooned in ninth, three wins outside of eighth place, with the grim reality of a relegation battle to come through wintertime.

This time around, the CYs go galloping into the King’s Birthday weekend with a 5-3 record and a spot in the top four, backing up a head-turning win over Old Carey in Round 7 with an 11.11 (77) to 7.14 (56) victory over the Old Melburnians at Elsternwick Park.

The CYs found goals from the returning Calvyn Vicino and strong performances from Will Chan, Will Bokma and Hamish Tambourine, with the key names of Jordan Busuttil (Essendon VFL), Zac Provest (suspension) and Keshava Raju (absent) missing from the team list.

Playing at League HQ for the first time since their Premier C semi final against Marcellin in 2017, the CYs navigated the expanses of the ground expertly, which has been a focus for the team across this season to date.

“There’s a lot of chatter and noise around the size of our ground (Fearon Reserve),” said coach Con Terzoglou on Sunday.

“Obviously playing at HQ it’s a different beast … we are targeting to be better on big grounds this year. It’s a focus for us, there are a lot of sides in Premier B that play on large grounds. It helps us balance being a home-and-away side.”

It was 21-year-old Calvyn Vicino’s first senior game in almost two years, after a torrid time with injury and an extended run in the Thirds and Reserves this year to get him up to speed.

“Cal did his ACL in Round 10 2023, he was in the under 19s at the time and was getting his three games with us (the seniors) as a bit of experience. Unfortunately in the third game, he did his ACL (and) had some complications post-surgery,” explained Terzoglou.

Without Zac Provest, who has kicked 21 goals from seven games this year, it was a triumphant return for the former Williamstown junior Vicino, potting four goals in the win.

“He’s been part of the senior squad since November, he knows how we play and what we want to do,” said Terzoglou.

The only sour note for the CYs was a shoulder injury early in the game to Liam Conway, who has played seven games for Williamstown VFL this season.

Old Melburnians coach Nathan Brown said the CYs were “too good” for his side, which was left to rue inefficiency in front of the big sticks.

“We’ll keep getting these young lads to training and keep on working hard to keep these lads trying hard to clock up a few more wins as quick as we can to try and stay in this outstanding comp,” Brown said.

Veteran forward Jackson Paine was the Redlegs’ only multiple goalkicker with two, while Albert Brown, Nicky Christian and Arthur Rush were some of Brown’s best.

Like the OMs, the Caulfield Grammarians were left to rue their poor kicking in front of goal, unable to put together its fourth win in a row and losing to Old Trinity at the Daley Oval.

The Fields had 10 more scoring shots than the Ts, but kicked 7.19 (61) to the green-and-gold’s 10.6 (66), going down by five points.

“(We) were pretty wasteful so only have ourselves to blame,” said Fields coach Paul Satterley.

“Trinity were really efficient when they went forward and I thought they defended well.”

Donald McDonald, who left the coaching duties to his assistants as he recovers from a knee replacement, said he’s been impressed by the Caulfield Grammarians this year, the Fields having made back some ground after a slow start and going to the break 4-4.

“They’ve got a crew there that can challenge anyone – and even then, they didn’t have (Julian) Dobosz in the ruck, they didn’t have (Josh) Hutchings and Dylan Ting,” McDonald said.

“‘Satts’ has got to be pretty happy with his squad – they’ve got a lot of depth and they’re going to really challenge teams. I think they’re as good as anyone in it.”

At 6-2, in second place and with a game on a three-team pursuing pack, McDonald is more concerned with the cohesion and chemistry of his Ts, and not necessarily the win column.

“It’s probably more about how you want to go about it (at this time of year). Consistency of effort and the players trying to get a bit of stability with playing with each other, I think that’s really important,” he said.

McDonald noted the leadership of Hugh Beasley in the forward line and Lachie Mulcahy down back has allowed younger players to flourish, and find some consistency in their performances.

“That’s been the really pleasing thing for us this year, a lot of guys have stepped up and played a role for us.”

Beasley, Boston Dowling and Hugo McGlashan all kicked two goals apiece for the Ts, while Sam McInerney, Ollie Lowe and the returning Will Edwards were notable for the Fields.

It’s been a rollercoaster five weeks for Old Geelong – win, loss, win, loss, win. The OGs were able to counter Round Seven’s trough against Old Ivanhoe with a peak over Old Camberwell, steaming home with 11 of the second half’s 15 goals to win 16.9 (105) to 8.12 (60).

“The comp’s so even, it’s hard to string wins together – I think our group’s naturally been really good at bouncing back from losses, finding a way to stay together and really improve in areas we need to,” coach Nick Dixon said.

“On the flipside, we want to be better at stringing wins together and have four or five weeks in a row where we can really set ourselves up for the season. We were able to do that last year.”

It was a day for defenders-turned-forwards at Gordon Barnard Reserve, with typical OGs key back Harry Graham thrown up forward after half time without a clear Weller to take care of on the last line. 

Dixon will now have a job wrenching him loose of the formerly foreign attacking half, Graham snagging four goals in the second half and turning the game in the third quarter.

“He’s got great hands and competes really well, so we thought at least he’ll bring the ball to ground,” explained Dixon.

“He went from bringing the ball to ground to clunking everything, big pack marks … he played really well and gave our forward line a different look”.

Jacob Jess, a defender with some experience up front, also made the long trek to the other fifty-metre arc and excelled with four goals of his own, while Jack Sheridan enjoyed another day out in the middle.

It was beloved clubman Liam Maiden’s turn to celebrate a milestone for the OGs, bringing up 100 games and kicking a goal.

Old Camberwell coach Neil Connell, without a few regulars including Jimmy Allen, was pleased with his players’ bright start to the game but found them wanting when the OGs applied second-half pressure.

“Some poor turnovers were costly, and this gave OG momentum that we couldn’t wrestle back,” he said.

“The game gave some of our younger players the opportunity to experience senior football against a good side … Billy Allsop going in the ruck against one of the competition’s best ruckman in Jack Sheridan will help his development”. 

After appearing to be in some trouble early in the second half, Old Carey will go into the bye in third place after once again out-performing their opponents in the fourth. 

Down by seven points at three quarter time, the Panthers screamed home at Brunswick Street Oval with eight final term goals to two, pocketing win number five with a 16.9 (105) to 12.14 (86) win over Fitzroy.

“One really pleasing thing from the weekend, and from all our games, is that our running capacity seems to be a real thing,” said Old Carey coach Luke Giles.

“The way we finish games is really strong – I had a feeling that would be our brand coming into the season, given the make-up of the group, our running power, and the amount of work they put in pre-season.”

The Panthers score an average of just over 31 points in fourth quarters, which on average is their highest-scoring term this season. On only two occasions has Old Carey lost a fourth quarter this year: in a Round Two loss to Old Ivanhoe and a Round Seven loss to Williamstown CYMS.

“There’s a pattern now emerging that we’re really finishing well … it probably felt to me the longer the game went, the more we were getting away,” said Giles of the contest last Saturday afternoon.

Charlie Connell-Tobin’s return to the side gave the Panthers some more run and carry from the backline, with Coburg-listed pair Will Green and Luke Bailey likely to return from injuries after the break.

“From now, we should see a much healthier list,” said Giles.

Lachy Godden and James Horsey kicked four goals apiece in the win while Mitch Wooffindin continued his superb 2025 form.

There were positive signs for Fitzroy coach Travis Ronaldson, with wingman Rhys Seakins “exceptional” and Laird Ramshaw and Nathan Ligris solid, but the coach was ultimately left disappointed. 

“We let Carey get the jump on us and had to work really hard to get back in the game, our third quarter especially showing the high pressure fast ball movement style that we are aiming to play,” Ronaldson said.

“Unfortunately the big push to get back in the game meant we ran out of petrol tickets in the last, with Carey lifting another gear to take the game away from us.”

Old Ivanhoe head to the break a game clear atop the ladder, tying off a 7-1 start with an emphatic 130-point win over the winless Hampton Rovers.

A dozen Old Ivanhoe players kicked goals in the 23.15 (153) to 3.5 (23) win, which saw the Hoers skip a game and some 20% clear of second-placed Old Trinity.

“We put a lot of effort into making sure we started the game well and jumped out of the blocks pretty hard,” said Hoers coach Jarrod Gieschen.

“I was really happy with the way the guys went about it – the last time we played Hampton, they beat us by about 50 points at their ground in 2023. We just wanted to make sure that we didn’t let them in at the start and build any confidence.”

With percentage sure to play a factor later in the year, Gieschen and his coaching unit didn’t take the foot off the gas during the week, emphasising to his players the importance of going into the bye at a canter.

“We probably had our hardest training week of the year to push the guys really hard to make sure mentally and physically they were in the right frame of mind going into (the game),” Gieschen said.

Billy Murphy racked up an eye-boggling 46 disposals and four goals, and could have added more to the scoresheet – waving off a half-dozen in his set-up of miserly defender Jack Harper’s first goal since his 2023 Under 19s days, while Blake Gliddon’s first senior goal for the club also came on a platter from the reigning G. T. Moore medallist.

Toby McLean’s 48 disposals and Alex Mirkov’s 24 disposals, 54 hitouts and three goals dominated the statsheet, while Tyson Nagel kicked four goals.

Owen Bater, Blake Jensen-Muir and James Prosser were Hampton coach Marty Pask’s best.

After the King’s Birthday break, Old Ivanhoe and Old Trinity play off in a first-versus-second blockbuster at Chelsworth Park. 

Old Geelong host Fitzroy and Old Carey host the Old Melburnians. The Fields travel to take on the Rovers and Williamstown CYMS have a meeting with Old Camberwell.