Stranger Tings: Stunning Fields comeback turns the Fearon upside down

From three goals down in time-on in the final quarter, the Caulfield Grammarians came all the way back to break Williamstown CYMS hearts, steaming home with the last four goals of the game at Fearon Reserve to secure a two-game hold on third place.

The game seemed destined for a rather straightforward result at half time, with the Fields 20 points clear and with 10 more scoring shots. A three-goal second term from the in-form Julian Dobosz had set the tone – but Paul Satterley’s men saw their advantage eroded by a six-goal-to-three CYs third term.

In that third quarter, CYs spearhead Zach Provest caught fire, kicking four goals and taking two extraordinary marks, since splashed over the VAFA’s social media pages. He would finish with five goals, and nine marks – a whopping seven of those contested.

The CYs cut the margin to within a kick by three quarter time and took the lead early in the last – Provest, Ayden McCarroll, Will Bokma and Dylan Cutajar kicked four of the first five goals of the quarter, to the delight of the boisterous CYs contingent behind the goals.

Into time-on, the CYs lead was 17 points. Fields forward Dylan Ting halted the CYs’ momentum when he curved home a snap from a boundary throw-in at the 21-minute mark; four minutes later, teammate Tom Williams drilled a running drop punt on the outside of his boot from distance to cut the margin back within a kick.

In a tense game of football, in the dying sunshine, the moment came for the mercurial Dylan Ting. From full forward, he came steaming up at a dribbling kick toward the goalmouth, snatched the ball, toppled his opponent with a clever fake on his left, then stepped calmly to the inside and angled a right-foot snap through the major opening. His fourth goal, greeted by elated incredulity from the travelling Fields faithful, had nudged his side in front at the 27-minute mark of the final quarter.

Minutes later, Williams locked in the result with his second goal in a storybook sequence with his own scoop-and-snap, this time from half forward, completing a giddying turnaround and tightening the Fields’ grip on third place, 14.15 (99) to 14.7 (91) in a game well worth a re-watch on VAFA TV.

Naturally, Fields coach Paul Satterley was delighted – his side has now won five games in a row, all victories coming by a margin of fourteen points or fewer. It’s worth noting the Fields of 2024 survived relegation to Premier C by just 2% – now under Satterley, they’ll have to fall over to miss finals in 2025.

“What I love about this group is that win, lose or draw, we want to play out until the end. This was another good example of the lads showing great resilience … there’s enormous belief within the group,” Satterley said.

“This group – there’s a hunger that’s been a little bit untapped.”

Julian Dobosz was “incredible,” continuing his rich vein of form with 29 disposals, eight marks and five goals, while Hamish McInerney (29 disposals) and Noah Sutherland (24) provided crucial run from the back half.

VFL star Patrick Fairlie, with the Northern Bullants on a bye, was greeted back to the Ammos with a tag and had 31 disposals and 14 clearances.

For CYs coach Con Terzoglou, it’s a third loss in a row since the double-bye, but the closeness of the competition means his side still has a foothold inside the top four – albeit by just 1.5% from fifth-placed Old Camberwell.

At the hits keep coming – the CYs travel to take on Old Carey this weekend, before rounding out the year with the Old Melburnians at home and Old Camberwell away.

“We’re just going to have to find a way,” said Terzoglou.

“We just have to go back to the fact that we’ve been reasonably resilient across a lot of situations across the last 18 months, and dip into the bag of tricks to believe that we can respond.”

Praise came for Provest, who with Ayden McCarroll (six contested marks and two goals) have forged a formidable partnership in the CYs’ front half, but negative differentials in contested possessions (-35) and clearances (-20) would concern Terzoglou and his coaching unit.

Although forward Will Smyth is done for the year with a leg injury, the CYs are likely to regain VFL-listed pair Jordan Busuttil and Harry Miller in a fortnight’s time.

Old Ivanhoe has, outside of a mathematical improbability, locked away a spot inside the top two with a second-half steamrolling of Fitzroy, kicking 13 goals to one after half time to win 20.14 (134) to 7.13 (55).

The Hoers led by five points at the long break after Fitzroy’s dominated territory and the scoreboard in the second, Caleb Harward and Miles Nelson bright sparks in front of a vocal Brunswick Street Oval crowd as the Roys kicked five goals to two.

But Alex Mirkov (20 disposals, 55 hitouts, two goals), Billy Murphy (34 disposals, five goals), David Cuningham (33 and two) and Charlie Naish (25 and three) featured prominently after half time in a big win soured by a knee injury to important forward Sam Allen.

The game was paused so Allen could be assisted off the field – but after seeing a doctor, the club is hopeful he could feature again in 2025, dependant on scans.

“If you had said to me at the start of the year that you’d likely be playing off for an opportunity to play in a grand final in that first week of September, of course you’d take it,” Old Ivanhoe coach Jarrod Gieschen said.

“But for us, we haven’t really thought too much about it, because we’re still learning about what our best 22 players look like, and what our best style of footy looks like. We still haven’t shaped together four quarters of really consistent footy – that’s our main focus at the moment.”

“Very proud of the group and the effort they put in against the top side,” said Fitzroy coach Travis Ronaldson.

“We went in with a clear plan and executed that really well in the first half. If we had kicked straighter, we might have had our noses in front. 

“We had a couple of players ruled out at half time and being down on rotations we just ran out of gas and Old Ivanhoe’s big dogs started to take over.”

20-year-old midfielder Leo Sekhon earned his coach’s praise in his second senior game while Harward finished with three goals from 17 disposals.

Behind Old Ivanhoe, as they have been for much of this year, sits Old Trinity – assured of a finals spot, and likely just one more win away from locking themselves into second after defeating Old Geelong at Daley Oval.

The OGs kicked the first three goals of the game, the Ts responded with the next three to keep things tight by quarter time – before steadily increasing their advantage across the middle quarters, leading by 21 points at the final term.

“We’ve played Carey, OMs and Geelong (over the last three weeks) – it was kind of like their seasons were on the line, all three sides have come out and thrown everything at us,” said Ts coach Donald McDonald.

Old Trinity did enough down the stretch to hold back the OGs, 12.11 (83) to 9.10 (64) victors, placing the OGs back with the chasing pack for fourth.

On return from injury, Dom Payman was superb for the Ts, kicking five goals in his second game of VAFA footy for the year and first since Round Five.

“He was on reduced minutes and that sort of stuff, but he provided a great focal point for us, and having Ed Shard coming back into the team and Harry Thompson in the ruck – the big fellas stood up,” said McDonald.

The absence of key talls for Old Trinity has been a tricky sideplot to manage over these past few weeks – but Charlie Beasley, Hugh Beasley, Boston Dowling and Tom Ferrier should now be available for the Ts, as will be Hugo McGlashan, who was a late out on the weekend.

For OGs coach Nick Dixon, the result was a “really disappointing” one, with an opportunity to gain an advantage on fellow finals aspirants lost.

“I give a lot of credit to Donald and his boys, they were terrific. Their intensity inside the contest and on the spread was far better than ours,” Dixon said.

“We were able to have some good moments throughout the game – however the scoreboard was an honest reflection of the matchup, where Trinity always looked a three-goal better team on the day.”

Young Oli Grodski was lauded for his efforts by the coach, while Jack Sheridan (47 hitouts, eight clearances) and Tim Jones (29 disposals, eight clearances) had no trouble finding the ball in tight.

Old Carey kept pace with the four-way fight for fourth spot, like the Hoers taking until after half time to switch into gear and beat the Hampton Rovers.

With a 12-point lead at the main break, Luke Giles’ side kicked 12 goals to three in the second half to put the Rovers away at Boss James Reserve, 18.15 (123) to 7.13 (55).

“We lifted in a few areas after half time, but I think that’s generally what you find when you have a more experienced side playing a younger side … we were really impressed with their young kids and how they competed,” Giles said.

20-year-old Daniel Godden, younger brother of Lachie, kicked six goals while Will Green was the highest-rated player on the ground with 29 disposals and 21 contested possessions.

“He’s (Godden) a bit of a sleeping giant – (he was) sitting in the under 19s early in the season, taking 20 intercept marks. I knew when I brought him up, there’s a really good chance that he wasn’t just going to make a small bid to hold his spot, there was a chance he’d kick a bag.”

There’s selection pressure at the Panthers, with Godden the younger another pressing a case for more senior football.

Should Old Carey beat Williamstown CYMS this weekend, they will have beaten every time in Premier B this year bar Old Ivanhoe – a tick in the book for Giles, and an indicator that the Panthers are building nicely as they aspire for a return to top flight.

“It’s exciting to be in the hunt. We’ll have to play at a really high level to beat (the CYs), but I think playing at home, we’re usually a two-or-three-goal-better side,” Giles said.

For Hampton, Christian Carnovale battled for his 29 disposals and three goals while Zach Ziesling paired 18 disposals with 43 hitouts.

The Old Carey win was compounded with the successful VFL debut of Panthers star Luke Kelvie, who fit in well at Coburg in the ‘Burgers’ key win over Port Melbourne on Sunday.

“I knew it wasn’t a matter of ‘if,’ more ‘when’,” said Giles of Kelvie’s debut.

“We know he’s a bona-fide VFL player, we know we’ll say goodbye to him at some point for a period of time.”

Finally, Old Camberwell’s form continued to turn heads across Premier B, the Wellers responding from an eight-point loss in Round 14 to Old Ivanhoe by trouncing the Old Melburnians at home.

The OMs were held to just two goals after quarter time while the Wellers piled on thirteen, 17.12 (114) to 5.13 (43) winners in a result that boosts Neil Connell’s side’s percentage by nearly 6% – critical in a nip-and-tuck race for finals.

Jimmy Allen had a large day out – 38 disposals, 20 contested possessions, 11 clearances and nine marks – while Liam Thomas kicked five and Caleb Finlayson and Harry Laukens added three apiece. 

“Our four-quarter consistency in applying pressure, along with quality forward 50 entries, was a real highlight,” said Connell.

“After half-time, we capitalised on our efforts, kicking 11 goals and proving we can run games out strongly.”

For Nathan Brown’s OMs, it’s a case of availability and injury taking its toll.

“We came up against a quality opponent really building.They beat us in all areas of the game – they were superb,” he said.

“Since the double-bye we unfortunately just haven’t had any luck with player availability but for a positive it has given our youngsters some really good exposure and experience in the seniors  over the last few weeks.

“The dam wall just broke on the weekend.”

Will Nichols (34 disposals) and Nicky Christian (30) led the way for the OMs, who next week host the Hampton Rovers at league HQ.

The Wellers and Fields play off in a huge game at Gordon Barnard Reserve – with a win, Caulfield Grammarians will have a two-game hold on third with two games remaining in the season – while Old Carey host Williamstown CYMS in another critical match.

Old Trinity and Fitzroy and Old Ivanhoe and the OGs round out Premier B’s Showcase Round 16, where every game will be streamed on VAFA.com.au, with commentary, live and free.