Oakleigh brought Kew to heartbreak in a thriller, St Mary’s Salesian and UHS-VU impressed with big wins, Preston outlasted Prahran in a scrap and Parkside cruised past Brunswick in a one-sided clash — these were the Round 1 Division 1 Men’s headlines.
Oakleigh and Kew started their season with a finals rematch at Scammell Reserve. This time, resulting in Oakleigh being up by five at the final siren. Oakleigh started the game hot, scoring two goals in the first four minutes. However, Kew was able to quickly recover, only being down by four at quarter time. Kew’s inaccuracy took hold in the second quarter and resulted in a scoreline of 39-27 at half-time.
Kew had ten scoring shots in the third quarter, resulting in a three-point lead at three-quarter time. However, Oakleigh showed the importance of scoring efficiency with four straight goals in the final quarter, taking the lead to win a hard-fought, quick game.
Oakleigh coach Chris Worner said he was proud of his team’s pressure and that they were able to keep control over the game for the close win, something the squad struggled with last year.
When talking about stand-out players, Worner said “the Gillard brothers were great, some young players like Nick Clifton, Eric Mahoney both played great games and our two captains Nick Torpey and Jamie Roach led by example all game”.
With an interrupted preseason and plenty of list changes, expectations were unclear for Kew coach Jack Cole. While the team secured plenty of opportunities, poor accuracy let the side down. With 19 behinds on the day, Kew left a lot of opportunities on the table in what could have been an even closer game.
However, there was plenty of excitement still for Cole, naming Luke Hazeldine a top performer of the day in his work to match a quick opponent.
Oakleigh’s next match-up will be an away game against Preston, who are coming off a tough-fought victory, winning 62-56 against Prahran. Kew will be up against Prahran, who having just been relegated, started off the season with a close loss to Preston.
After Premiership victory in Division 2 last year, St Mary’s Salesian hosted the Monash Blues in their first match post-promotion. St Mary’s continued their winning run in a high-scoring affair between the two sides, winning 137 to 94. The game was relatively close, until St Mary’s took over in the third quarter, kicking seven goals and breaking ahead.
Despite the loss, Monash looks strong in the forward half, with five multiple goal scorers. However, the team will need to work on restraining the other side’s ability to generate scoring opportunities.
St Mary’s coach Heath Chipperfield said he was happy to get the reward after working hard in the preseason. Appreciating the amount of pressure Monash were able to bring from the first bounce, Chipperfield was impressed with his side’s ability to absorb the pressure and continue to win the contest.
“I thought our work rate and ability to win contest yesterday was really strong,” Chipperfield said. “They applied a high level of pressure, and we were able to absorb that and respond at different stages.”
Chipperfield said he was particularly impressed with this capacity as they had several changes from last year’s premiership-winning squad.
Standing out with five goals was Jack Elliston for St Mary’s, who is now tied for most goals in the division with University’s Noah Seiderman.
Generating close to 40 scoring shots, Heath said he was happy with their ability to score and not concerned with the number of shots missed, but thought more work could be done in regard to their ball movement around the ground and managing different stages of the game.
Monash will face Brunswick at home next week and will be hoping to get a win on the table against a side that struggled to score in Round 1. St Mary’s will be facing UHS-VU, once again at home, in what will be an early match-up to determine who remains at the top of the table.
Prahran hosted Preston in a hard-fought game over the weekend, with neither team more than nine points apart at any break. In the end, it was Preston who were able to hold on to a one-goal lead at the final siren, nailing the coffin on Prahran who are yet to taste victory in some time.
Goals were at a premium in this match, which made the efforts of Preston’s vice-captain Benedict Douglas even more important, leading the team with a match-high three goals, with opposing captain Rory Brodie scoring two goals of his own.
Prahran assistant coach Patrick Marks said the loss was difficult to take after competing fiercely the whole game. “The loss hurts as we were right in it all day and let ourselves down at times, so we will be hungry to get on the winners list this week when we take on Kew,” he said.
Marks gave his side praise despite the loss, noting “stand out performances were Liam Hepburn down back in his first outing for Prahran, along with the usual suspects in Patrick Ribbands and Rory Brodie, also having strong performances and starting the year how they finished off last year.”
Prahran will come up against Kew next, who come off an equally contested loss. Preston will face Kew’s winning opponent Oakleigh at home. If it’s anything like Round 1, Round 2 will be a tight contest for all sides.
Despite some late scoring, Brunswick struggled to find a goal on the weekend, going goalless in two quarters. Conversely, Parkside regularly hit the scoreboard, with 10 individual goal kickers for the match.
PlayHQ best on ground callouts included Cedric Gauder and Josh Moylan for Parkside, with Daniel Mott and Whitlam Bishop for Brunswick.
Parkside will be up against the Old Yarra Cobras in Round 2. The promoted Cobras will be looking to get onto the winners’ list, and we’ll see if the relegated Parkside can continue to show that they’re still a step ahead. Brunswick will hope to hit the scoreboard more next week, particularly against their next opponent Monash, who let St Mary’s score 137 points in Round 1.
Old Yarra’s promotion to Division 1 hasn’t gone quite as smoothly as St Mary’s just yet, with a significant loss to University HS – Victoria Uni. Accurate goal kicking couldn’t keep the Cobras in competition with a fast-scoring UHS-VU side.
University opened the game with a blistering seven-goal first quarter, but the Cobras were able to recover and make it a three-point game at halftime. University was able to take control and make it five goals to one in the second half. However, neither team was able to score in the final quarter, making for a high-pressure end to the game despite the scoreboard.
University’s Noah Seiderman had a particularly impressive offensive game, currently matching St Mary’s Jack Elliston for top goal scorer for the division, with five goals apiece. UHS-VU Coach Mark McAllion said he was impressed by his group’s even contribution. “We had an even contribution across the group and applied the fundamentals consistently, which has been a key focus throughout the pre-season”. This was especially important with seven debutants for the side who were supported by the side’s leaders’ capacity to step up in the face of Old Yarra responding in the second quarter.
Cobras coach Nathan Monaco appreciated his side’s ability to respond, saying “we dug in pretty well after getting jumped early”. However, with a largely new squad compared to last year’s Grand Final, he admitted it will take some time to regain consistency and understanding of the game plan. Monaco was impressed nonetheless with Miller Smith and Ben Makoswki’s standout efforts, alongside Josh DeWaard in the ruck.
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