St Mary’s snaps South Melbourne’s seven-game streak to make Grand Final

St Mary’s Salesian have bounced back from their narrow semi final defeat last week with a 23-point win over South Melbourne Districts in blustery conditions at Elsternwick Park.

21 of the 22 goals were kicked at one end of the ground, with the two teams kicking a combined 1.3 going against the wind. The victory guarantees the Saints promotion to Division 1 in 2026 and sets up what should be an entertaining first versus second Grand Final next weekend.

The Bloods were kicking with the breeze in the opening quarter and could have set themselves up nicely for the remainder of the match with 10 scoring shots to none, but only registered three goals (Austin Murphy, Zaron Smith, and Jay Engellenner) to give themselves a 25-point lead at first break. It took St Mary’s until the eleventh minute of the second quarter to register their first goal of the game through their captain Nathan Evans, before Zac Gucciardo, Angus Molden, Hudson Ryan, and D’Arcy Grant also hit the scoreboard to give the Saints a seven-point lead. However, Jonno Timms converted from short range in the shadows of half time to cut the margin to a solitary point.

Molden’s goal – his first in senior footy for 2025 – came from long range and was the result of a tactical move from St Mary’s coach Clay Tait. “We ended up playing Molden – who is normally our full back – at the same end of the ground for pretty much the entire game,” Tait explained.

“When we were against [the wind] we pushed someone forward and played him spare, and then knowing South Melbourne were going to play a spare [when we had the wind] we played him forward. He’s a very good contested mark and can kick it about 60 without the wind, so with the wind he was able to kick the goal from 65 or 70 metres out from a set shot.”

South Melbourne were more efficient going forward in the third compared to the first, finishing the quarter with 5.0 to 0.1. Murphy gave the Bloods the lead in the ninth minute of the term with his second goal of the day, with Harrison Mcintyre, Zephyr Howson, and Foley all kicking true to take a 28-point lead going into the final change. At this point it was simply a question of whether the buffer was big enough to hold off the Saints – who had the wind behind them – in the fourth quarter.

St Mary’s chipped away at the lead through Jacob McElroy (two goals) and Hamish Macmillan, before Nick Dekas’ first goal since Round 16 levelled the scores in the twentieth minute. The Bloods got their noses back in front with a behind, but St Mary’s Trent Ryan goaled less than a minute later to take back the lead. Ryan would kick two more for the quarter, with Dekas adding a second to hand South Melbourne their first defeat since early July.

Tait was pleased with his side’s ability to switch between two distinct mindsets throughout the game. “We decided to basically sacrifice the first and third quarters. We kicked it to what we thought was the defensive side of the ground – it was about making it as hard as possible for them. They obviously had a lot of scoring shots [in the first], but a lot of them were from the hardest spot on the ground to kick a goal. And then when we had the wind, our whole emphasis was to get the ball out to the other side of the ground. I wouldn’t say it was easy kicking goals, because with that wind everything was hard, but it was easier.”

Speaking to his charges at the half time, Tait emphasised the need to put themselves in a winning position by being withing five goals at three-quarter time. “At three-quarter time I spoke about what we’ve spoken about all year, in that we were confident in knowing the way we can move the footy and the way we can score. And given how strong that wind was, we just needed to stick to it. Once we got our tails up it was game on, and it would have been very hard to defend,” he said.

Outgoing Bloods coach Nick Abbott was disappointed to have another finals campaign cut short without the chance to play in a Grand Final but should be commended for making a preliminary final after not starting pre-season until two weeks before Round 1, dropping the first four games, and using more than 50 players over the course of the season.

“What I’m proud of is [that] we’ve had guts who were perennially in and out of the seniors and reserves over the last couple of years but who ended up being key senior players for the entirety of this year,” said Abbott, highlighting the efforts of defensive duo Ben Hunt and Athan Stamatelatos.

Abbott also praised the efforts of captain Thomas Foley, who finished with 43 goals from 20 games despite playing as a defender for the early part of the season. “He’s grown a hell of a lot as a captain, and he’s someone who could go and play at a higher level. But he loves the club, and that’s what endears him to us so much. That’s why I think he’s been not only a great player, but he’s grown as a great leader,” he said.   

The 2025 Division 2 Men’s season will conclude with Old Yarra Cobras and St Mary’s facing off in the Grand Final at Carey Sports Complex on Sunday. The Grand Final will be the fourth time these two teams have played this year. The Saints had the better of the Cobras on both occasions during the regular season, winning at Ferndale Park in front of a home crowd by seven points in Round 8 before completing the sweep with a 23-point victory at Koonung Reserve in Round 15. However, Old Yarra got their revenge in the semi final at Preston City Oval a fortnight ago, winning by the slimmest of margins to progress straight through to the Grand Final.

Tait will need to come up with a plan to minimise the impact of Rory Chipman, who was named among Old Yarra’s best in all three games this year, as well as figuring out how to stop Eoin Hanrahan, Elliot Brandon-Jones, and Dylan Lea (all named in the best twice). Old Yarra will also be hoping to regain leading goalkicker Jack Hall, who missed the semi final due to injury. Hall has kicked five goals across the two regular season matchups between, with Jackson Lesko and Benjamin Moakoski also contributing with five each across recent matchups.

From Old Yarra’s perspective, coach Nathan Monaco will need to be prepared to deal with Hudson Ryan and Jack Contencin, who were among St Mary’s best in each of their encounters his season. Contencin has been particularly damaging on the scoreboard for the Saints (nine goals in three games), receiving good support from Trent Ryan (six goals from three games) and Jacob McElroy (five goals from two games). Tait also named Joshua Salloum in the best players twice and will be another one for Old Yarra to keep their eyes on.