Fields of glory: Caulfield Grammarians return to top flight

Relegation from top flight in 2022, a close shave with a further drop to Premier C in 2023 – Caulfield Grammarians has booked a ticket back to William Buck Premier by winning a preliminary final against the Premier B minor premiers, Old Ivanhoe.

By defeating Old Camberwell in the last home-and-away game of last year, the Fields survived relegation by 1.99% with just five wins. 12 months later, under the tutelage of Paul Satterley, they’re off to take on Old Trinity at Trevor Barker Beach Oval with the premiership cup on the line. It’s one of the most remarkable one-year turnarounds across the entire VAFA.

The Fields haven’t scraped through either. They’ve belted the door down, having beaten Old Carey by 50 points and the Hoers by 53 points in September action.

The signs were good from the start – Josh Hutchings and Joe McClelland saluting from set shots with three minutes down on the clock to the Cramer Street End, that part of Preston City Oval enjoying some use after the howling gales of semi-final weekend. It could, and perhaps should, have been three Fields goals before the Hoers could progress the ball beyond halfway – Hutchings rushing a roved snap and missing a chance to the left-hand side at the four-minute mark.

Jumped and 13 points down, the Hoers reset and were able to control possession of the football for the next few passages of play. Billy Murphy got his hands on the football and the in-form Charlie Naish bobbed up twice inside fifty – but missed two shots he’d usually take full advantage of. At the other end there were no such issues for Ollie Lowe, the damaging midfielder marking and goaling to make it an early 17-point Fields advantage.

Old Ivanhoe nerves were settled when Alex Mirkov was held in front of goal and kicked truly from the subsequent free kick, but there was a certain absence of fluidity and connection to the game of the minor premiers present that had been present earlier in the season. Patrick Naish forced the team out of its malaise, finding David Cuningham streaking forward through the corridor, eventually resulting in a Mal Mitris mark and goal. The veteran added a second with a spry step-and-snap on his left minutes later, cutting the margin to six points in the early minutes of time-on.

Time-on was played largely between the arcs. Fields forward Jack Atkinson was denied a goal through a brilliant defensive effort from Hoer Lucas Agrotis at centre-half-forward- Atkinson wasn’t to be denied later in the term though, rewarding a Dobosz contest and follow-up tackle with a running goal that gave the Fields a two-goal quarter time lead. Satterley’s team had recorded seven more inside 50s to the break and could argue the scoreboard didn’t reflect the fashion of the game to date.

But by the halfway point of the second, it certainly did. Goals to three of the Fields’ four Jacks – Atkinson’s second and firsts for Webster, then Ellwood, pushed the Fields clear by 24 points. Ominously, the Fields hadn’t dominated territory nor possession to that point. Jarrod Giechen’s concerns were allayed however when Charlie Naish was awarded a fifty-metre penalty from the centre throw-up immediately after Ellwood’s goal, duly kicking the goal. From the next restart, Charlie Opie combined with Rohan McKenzie wonderfully across half forward for another.

The Fields were suddenly under pressure. Of their impressive defensive group, Charlie Eerhard was particularly terrific under pressure, taking three intercept grabs for the term and grappling with a consistent Old Ivanhoe press. The Hoers looked to be back on track however, and went to the break seven points in arrears off the back of an opportunistic snap on goal from Alex Mirkov late in the term.

Old Ivanhoe would kick only three more goals for the remainder of the game. The Fields would kick 11.

Satterely’s side took control of the game in a three-goal burst early in the third. First, an unselfish Jack Ellwood lowered his eyes to find a leading Connor Cooke in front of goal, 25 metres out, from where he would convert. Ollie Lowe would kick off the chain responsible for the second of the three goals, intercepting an Old Ivanhoe forward foray 25 metres from his own goal-line, then getting involved in the sequence of disposals through centre-half-back. It resulted in a well-weighted Jared Freeman pass to Hugh McKenzie, who marked and sent the ball through the centremost uprights. A key Sam McInerney tackle in midfield set the path for his Fields teammates to hit up Julian Dobosz – another goal, and a 25-point lead established with only eight minutes elapsed in the third. 

The next goal was critical – and it went the Fields way. Another Sam McInerney tackle in midfield, the loose ball sent inside 50 to an unmarked Hutchings, who was collected after he took an uncontested mark. His goal from the fifty-metre-penalty made it a 31-point game – to that point, the Fields had kicked 12.3.

The stars were in blue and white: Lowe at his creative best across half-forward and through the midfield; Oscar Roberts impassable at full-back; and Matt Clarkson weaving the Fields ever forward from the half-back line. The four-goal run was run aground by a 55-metre bomb from a loose Patrick Naish at left-half forward at the Bruce Street End – his goal answered with a true snap from Tom Williams’ left boot and another textbook set shot from Dobosz, his third goal of the day to reestablish Caulfield Grammarians command.

At six goals down and with five minutes to play, any move from the Hoers had to be swift – it came, but with four behinds when goals were the desperately required currency. 8.7 (55) played 14.3 (87) at the final break – a seven-goal-to-one quarter placing the Fields on the precipice of a Grand Final and a return to top-flight football in 2026.

When veteran Will Edwards kicked the first of the last, the celebrations felt moments away. They began in earnest when Jack Atkinson ran in his third goal, pointing towards the sticks as he jogged to the line. His goal put the lead at an unassailable 45 points. His embrace of supporters behind the goal, combined with the disconsolate figures cut by his hunched-over Old Ivanhoe adversaries were indicators the contest was well and truly done.

There was time for the reality of a Grand Final and promotion to sink in as the clock ticked down – and time for Atkinson’s fourth goal, equalling his season-high tally. The 19.7 (121) to 10.8 (68) final score accurately reflected the Fields’ dominance, their ninth win from their last ten games.

Sam McInerney (34 disposals, 17 contested possessions), Ellwood (31 and a goal) and Lowe (30, 11 marks and a goal) were three of the six Fields to record 25 disposals or more, while Eerhard (11 marks, five of those intercept marks) and Noah Sutherland (27 disposals and nine marks) were outstanding down back.

Ryan Pietsch continued his strong September as four Fields players kicked multiple goals: Atkinson with four, Dobosz and Webster with three each, and Hutchings with two.

For Old Ivanhoe, Alex Mirkov combined his three goals with 24 disposals, 14 clearances and 49 hitouts as Patrick Naish (32 disposals) led all Hoers for touches.

The Fields have split the points with Old Trinity this year – responding to a five-point Round Eight loss with a 16-point Round 18 victory only three weekends ago. Satterley’s men go in with form on their side though – their 53-point win over the Hoers in the preliminary final eclipsing the Ts’ 17-point win in the second semi final.

WHAT THEY SAID

Caulfield Grammarians coach Paul Satterley

On the playing group’s improvement over the course of the season

“My confidence in the lads has grown with every game we have played this season, our ability to adapt to the conditions, state of the game and maturity in-game far exceeds the age profile of our group.  

“We have found a way in tight games; I never talk about effort … this is ingrained in them.  

On the second half dominance (the Fields outscoring the Hoers 70-24)

“We pride ourselves on the contested possession and intercept metrics. Our performance against Old Ivanhoe in (the) second half was outstanding and we didn’t expect such an emphatic win.”

On a stellar performance from his defensive unit

“We have been extremely lucky to have had the same back six or seven lads in defence all season and the connection they have is elite. 

“They manage the tempo very well and talk to me as the game progresses.”

On how instructional Round 18’s win over the Ts will be

“I don’t read too much into our last game against Old Trinity as it was clear they rested a number of key players. ‘Macca’ [Old Trinity coach Donald McDonald] is an excellent coach and I loved playing for him back in the day.

“We will need to be at our best again this week and I have total belief in my boys.”

Old Ivanhoe coach Jarrod Gieschen

On his post-match address

“We were shattered. We had bigger hopes for 2025 … having the double-chance, the two cracks to get into the Grand Final, we were absolutely devastated not to take that opportunity.

“We said to the group, there were no words that would make anybody feel any better … (but) you look at our trajectory, it wasn’t that long ago that we were struggling to make finals in Premier C, and now we’re playing off to go to Premier A. We have come a long way as a group.

“We’ve got a pretty special and talented group that’s only going to get better with more time together … I think the club’s in really good shape, we’ll be better for the experience.”

On how the season ended

“If you look at our form in the last five or six weeks of the season, we did start to taper off after a brilliant start to the year, and the writing might have been on the wall even though we didn’t feel it within our four walls.

“It was a combination of Caulfield being exceptional – bringing great pressure and a really connected offensive game – but also us being pretty flat after having that opportunity to beat Old Trinity … we were right in the game, and probably should have put them away in that last quarter.

“Once the game was in the balance just after half time and we had to find something, we just couldn’t find it. That’s probably a combination of us being a very young group. I haven’t spoken about that much this year, because there’s always a lot of focus on our top-end talent. We had eight players 20-and-under playing on Saturday, they’ve been so good all year, but they probably started to fatigue over that last period, and it probably hit us all at once. We had a couple of boys limp in with pretty heavy injuries – Mal Mitris got himself up with an A/C joint (injury) which was pretty inspirational for the group, and David Cuningham played with a cracked rib.

“We did whatever we could to get our best 22 together to give us a shot at Premier A. We just weren’t good enough on the day.”

On Caulfield Grammarians

“They were brilliant. I’ve had one eye on them for the whole back half of the year … once I saw them putting their best team together and getting momentum, I knew they’d be a challenger at the pointy end of the year.

“They’ve got consistency across all lines, and some really good top end talent as well.”