Preston hold firm, Parkside run riot: VAFA Division 1 Men’s R2

Preston (15.10 – 100) def Oakleigh (11.12 – 78)

Preston took an early lead in their match against Oakleigh, leading 48-25 at half-time. However, a bold response from Oakleigh led to a six-goal term, resulting in a two-point lead at three quarter time. Despite this brave push by Oakleigh, Preston were able to respond in the final term, taking their opportunities against the wind in the final term to grab the win by a 22-point margin.

A slow start meant that Oakleigh coach Chris Warner had to challenge his team to meet the club’s expectations on pressure and structure. Warner was still confident in their ability to challenge Preston and said his team “responded as expected to hit the lead, but unfortunately a lack of rotations and inaccurate kicking cost us”. Warner felt the loss was closer than the scoreboard showed, saying there was “a lot of upside for us to take out of this loss”.

On the Preston side, coach Tom Hill was impressed with his teams “hard-fought win up against a very well drilled and tough opponent in Oakleigh”. Hill similarly recognised the shifts in momentum in the game, but was proud of his squad’s ability to “capitalise when we needed to when kicking into the wind in Q1 and again in Q4 with the game on the line”. Hill particularly recognised a couple of their younger players, specifically Jobe Douglas and his drive off half back, and Caspian Furman with their ability to take their opportunities up forward.

After a couple of hard-fought wins, Preston will face off against UHS-VU away from home in Round 3, while Oakleigh will try return to the winners list against bottom of the table Old Yarra at home.

Prahran (12.7 – 79) def Kew (7.9 – 51)

Prahran took hold of the game early despite playing away from home against Kew. Taking a six goal to one lead at half-time, Prahran looked confident against last year’s finalists. Kew responded well in the third quarter, adding on five goals to make it a nine-point gap heading into the final term. However, Prahran were able to stack on the pressure and hold out for a 27-point win at the end of the game.

Prahran assistant coach Patrick Marks was proud of a great team win in Round 2, with specific shout-outs to Riley Hogan, who succeeded in his new half forward role, alongside Mackenzie Mayne through the midfield, and Ethan Plaza kicking three important goals. All these players exemplified what Marks thought was a big step up for the team, with him saying a big difference this week was “the pressure the boys brought against Kew with a lot more tackles”.

Kew will face off against a dominant Parkside team next week. Parkside have returned to the top of the ladder in their Division 1 return and will be a tough opponent at home. After returning to the winners list, Prahran will hope to keep the feeling going at home, coming up against a Monash side who were only able to kick two goals in Round 2.

Parkside (25.17 – 167) def Old Yarra (4.7 – 31)

Parkside showed why they were promoted for the 2026 season in their match up against Old Yarra this round. Stacking up 25 goals, Parkside were able to quickly hit the scoreboard, keeping Old Yarra to just four goals. Parkside took a 69-point lead into halftime and only increased this in the second half. Ending the game with a 136-point victory. Resulting in a percentage of 344, clearly head and shoulders above the rest of the division ladder so far.

“The two teams are in different spots at the moment. Our depth and inexperience is being tested, we tried hard and gave what we had,” Old Yarra coach Nathan Monaco said when asked about the loss.

“Parkside are a classy outfit and look to be the team to beat this year.”

Despite the heavy loss, plaudits were given to Rory Chipman, Max McLeod and Ben Makowski who battled hard all day.

Old Yarra will try get their first win on the board this week in an away match against Oakleigh who are coming off a couple of tough-fought matches themselves. Meanwhile, Parkside will aim to keep hold of their top spot as they face off against Kew, who despite having not won yet, have not made wins against them easy to come by.

St Mary’s Salesian (15.9 – 99) def UHS-VU (10.7 – 67)

Despite the final scoreline, the match-up between St Mary’s and University HS-Victoria Uni was one of the most competitive games this round. With scores drawn at quarter time, UHS-VU took a two-point lead into half time. St Mary’s Salesian started to take hold in the third but only created a one goal lead going into the final quarter. St Mary’s eventually took a hold of the scoreboard resulting in a seven goal to three final term, and a 32-point victory to the home side.

St Mary’s coach Heath Chipperfield was proud to notch another early win on the table. When asked about the style of game, Chipperfield said he thought “both sides’ pressure around the ball was excellent, which meant there wasn’t a lot of free flowing footy”.

As such, St Mary’s could not get their game moving as they had planned, so Chipperfield was “glad that we could find a way to score through different avenues and grind it out”. A big shout out was given to their team leaders, Nathan Evans and Ben Tricario, alongside new young guns Zach Thurman on the wing, and Tom Vuller in the ruck.

St Mary’s face Brunswick in Round 3 and will try to keep their winning streak alive to prove they’re Division 1 ready. Matching their balanced 2025 season, UHS-VU currently stand with one win, one loss, and a percentage of exactly 100 per cent.

Monash v Brunswick — Abandoned

Due to injury, this match was abandoned. As it was abandoned before half time, the scores will stand as 0-0.