Canterbury’s complete performance leads to 10 goal win over MHSOB

The Canterbury Cobras recorded their second victory for the season that has significant implications on their opponent. This win over the fifth-placed MSHOB extends the gap between the top four and the remaining six teams.

MHSOB now sit a game and a half outside the top four after their 63-point loss to Canterbury, their biggest defeat this season.

Cobras coach Steve Brown said he felt the win had been brewing from a while, and felt it showed how his side had improved since their 41-point loss to the Unicorns in Round 2.

“We’d lost three games in a row by less than two goals before the bye, and then we were really good against Old Yarra last week apart from the first quarter. We’ve played [good] quarters and halves before, and we did it for four quarters on Saturday,” he said.

Canterbury debutant Ryder Daffey, who played for Xavier College’s first 18 in the APS competition earlier this year, bagged six goals in a dominant display up forward.

“He protects the space around and in front of him really well, and he’s a lovely, polite young kid. We want good people at our footy club and if they can play, then that’s even better,” Brown said of Daffey. 

St John’s inconsistent season continued with a 63-point loss to Whitefriars on the road. The JOC’s matched the Friars’ efforts in the first half to trail by 16 points at the main break, before the hosts took control of the game by kicking six goals in 11 minutes in the third quarter.

“They had a decent ruck and got on top in the middle,” said JOC’s coach Tim Edwards. “It gave them first opportunity going forward, and we didn’t have the backline to go with their bigs.”

Edwards felt Aydan Unger and Clayton Emery performed well in the back half in the absence of defensive stalwart Mich Barry, but conceded it had been an unlucky year for the JOC’s on the injury front.

 “We had nine season-ending injuries [going into the game] and had another on the weekend… We had a dream run last year where we didn’t get an injury until the week before the finals, then this year they’re dropping like flies.”

West Brunswick snapped the South Melbourne Districts’ five-game win streak with a 27-point victory at Lindsay Hasset Oval. The Magpies kicked the only goal of the first quarter to hold a six-point lead at quarter time before kicked four goals to one in the second to lead by 24 points at the main break.

The visitors lost focus in the third quarter and allowed the Bloods to get back to within a kick at the final change. But Magpies coach Regan Tait explained they straightened up in the last to claim their seventh win of the season.

“We gave them an inch [in the third] and they took a mile. They had really good centre clearances, which resulted in good forward entries and goal opportunities. Once we got in [the huddle], we discussed what was going wrong and what was going right. We needed to alter what we were doing, because we were playing their style of football rather than our style of football,” Tait said.

Bloods coach Nick Abbott was disappointed his side wasn’t able to fully capitalise when they had momentum.

“We know we can match it with those [better] teams – we just need to put together a four-quarter performance. Unfortunately, we only put a quarter and a half together on the weekend,” Abbott said.

St Mary’s Salesian defeated Hawthorn by 80 points, although both coaches felt the game was more competitive than what the final margin suggested.

“I thought our endeavour and our fight was really good, but I think we get beaten in the fundamentals and lack a bit of class – and the opposition makes us pay for our mistakes. We turn the ball over at half-forward and then aren’t able to put any pressure on, so it just zings out of our forward line,” said Hawks coach Mark Murray.

Murray praised youngsters Alex Iser and Oliver Knight for their respective efforts in the ruck and defence, along with Charles Hicks on the wing and Seb Poole on ball.

“If we can hold these kids together and keep them all, I think they’re going to be very good for us for years to come,” he said.

Saints coach Clay Tait agreed that while Hawthorn brought the pressure early his side were able to capitalise on turnover. However, Tait felt his side needed to tighten up on allowing the opposition to use the ball by foot, especially through the middle of the ground.

“It’s been one of our focuses this year and we’ve done it really well, but there’s times where we can lose focus and allow teams to kick-mark through the middle of the ground,” he said.

Old Yarra Cobras made it five wins from as many matches at home this season with a 47-point victory over Aquinas. The game ebbed and flowed early and the Bloods kept themselves in contention on the back of some accurate kicking before the Cobras pulled away in the final quarter.

Old Yarra coach Nathan Monaco praised opposition coach Craig Glennie for how Aquinas approached the game.

“They came to play. Craig’s doing a great job considering he’s had a lot of players through the seniors. Yesterday he put a lot of work into our blokes, they stuck to their game plan, and it showed. We beat them by 117 points in Round 2 and they’ve cut the margin in half this time despite playing on our deck,” said Monaco.

Glennie was pleased with how his side were able to shut down certain parts of Old Yarra’s game, and felt the final margin would have been closer had the Bloods not lost David Malvaso and Sam Glennie to hamstrings in the third. Aquinas were 16 points down at three quarter time but conceded five of the last six goals of the game.

Monaco was hoping that the return of four senior players – skipper Nicholas Zappala, along with Calum Johnston, Anothy Raso, and Ryan Pollard – over the next fortnight would help keep his side more composed during upcoming matches.

Round 11 action sees Canterbury host ladder leaders St Mary’s Salesian, while Old Yarra Cobras travel to Lindsay Hasset Oval to play South Melbourne Districts. Elsewhere, MHSOB need a win against ninth-placed Hawthorn to keep in touch with the top four, St John’s will hope to get back on the winner’s list against West Brunswick, and Whitefriars and Aquinas will do battle at Whitefriars College.