Snowdogs, T’s & Fields all make a statement – William Buck Premier Men’s Round 2 Review

Round 2 of William Buck Premier Men’s delivered several upsets, with both teams promoted from Premier B posting their first wins back in the top-flight.

It leaves just 2 undefeated and 2 winless teams after the opening fortnight of the season.

Here’s a closer look at an unpredictable Round 2:

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The first thriller of the round was at Glen Huntly Park as two late goals saw Caulfield Grammarians win a nailbiter over Old Haileybury.

The Fields had been impressive all day in their gritty 19-point loss to Old Scotch in the opening round, while the Bloods had come from the clouds to pull off an incredible last-quarter comeback win over Uni Blacks. It was a combination of results that made this game virtually impossible to predict.

Caulfield kicked with a strong wind and seized the initiative with the first two goals, before the Bloods booted the next three against the breeze.

These early momentum swings would indeed be an indicator of things to come, as Oscar Roberts – who had been repurposed as a forward – booted two late majors to give the Fields an 8-point lead at the first change.

But, sure enough, Old Haileybury responded with the wind at their backs and controlled all scoring for the first 17 minutes of the second term. Unfortunately for Guy Martyn’s men, they couldn’t take full toll, booting 2.4, before a Caulfield goal to Flynn Ellis was cancelled out by a late goal to Bailey Yates as the Bloods hit half-time with a 12-point advantage.

The breeze dropped a little after half-time, but Caulfield Grammarians were still able to control the early stages of the third term. But Paul Satterley’s men made slightly more of their chances, adding 3.3 to get their noses 7 points in front, before Hugo Nosiara goaled to reduce the margin at the final break to just 3 points.

Early in the final term, it was Caulfield’s turn to be wasteful – the Fields peppering away, only to score 5 behinds in the first 10 minutes.

The Bloods rallied, and seized momentum back with two goals in a minute to hit the front midway through the term. They led by 5 points entering time-on, before Caulfield’s Dylan Ting had his say.

His opportunist goal at the 22-minute mark put the Fields back in front by a single point, with scores levelled a minute later.

He then bobbed up again at the back of the pack to restore Caulfield’s 6-point lead at the 26-minute mark – his third goal for the afternoon proving to be the decisive one.

Try as they might, the Bloods just couldn’t find the response, with two late behinds reducing the margin to 4 points but handing Caulfield Grammarians their first Premier Men’s win since Round 6 of 2023.

The team they beat that day? Yep, Old Haileybury at Glen Huntly Park!

The Fields will remain at Glen Huntly this week, hosting the unbeaten Uni Blues, while Old Haileybury will host league-leaders Old Brighton at Princes Park, where they pushed them to within a single point last season.

Paul Satterley (Caulfield Grammarians): “Very pleased that we again fought out the game to the end, and on this occasion won the 4 points.  Super proud of our playing group, and they deservedly got reward for A-grade effort.

“The energy the lads brought into our three-quarter time huddle was as high and infectious as I have experienced from our group.

“Our team pressure was excellent in the second half in particular, and our last quarter into a reduced headwind meant we could revert back to 6 forwards in front of the ball. We’ll continue to work on our efficiency by hand and foot, to turn more half-chances into scores.

“Shoutout to Jono Moren for his combative game in the midfield, and with Jack Ellwood, he gave us great drive and contest from stoppages.

“Charlie Eerhard, Noah Sutherland and Ryan Pietsch all had clutch intercept wins late in the game, while Oscar Roberts was outstanding, kicking 4 goals in a different role for him, and Dylan Ting kicked 3 vital goals late.”

Guy Martyn (Old Haileybury): “We were really poor at some fundamental basics – spoiling from behind, defensive accountability, talk/communication. We also didn’t play the windy conditions well. 3.8 to 1.0 in the second quarter says a bit, and we continually wasted time in the dead pocket.

“Then, as the wind died off as the game went on, we didn’t adjust back to ‘normal’ conditions and just presumed the wind (which had gone) would do it for us.

“Caulfield made it really hard for us to score, and we couldn’t work our way through it – continually kicking long to contest/numbers. The two goals Caulfield then kicked in the last quarter are really hard to watch and simply not acceptable at this level.

“This week, we’ll acknowledge the non-negotiable football stuff we were really poor in. These are mindset, not talent or ability. Two games in with a new group means we can continue to refine our style – we learnt a lot, and we’re looking forward to challenging the best team in the comp this coming week.”

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The other heartstopper was at the Snake Pit, as St Bernard’s also came from behind in the time-on in the final term to snatch victory, in their case over 2024 premiers Old Scotch.

The Cards got away brightly with 2 goals in the opening 8 minutes on a beautiful day for football. Daniel Gilham got the Dogs on the board 14 minutes in, but when Will Clark responded for Scotch a few minutes later, the visitors headed to the first break with a 13-point lead.

The Snowdogs were seeing plenty of the ball, but Old Scotch’s ever-reliable intercept game was turning their attacking forays around, and the two goals the Cards scored from turnover were essentially the difference at quarter time.

The second term saw two very evenly-matched teams refuse to give an inch, with Turnover scores once again the key – both teams booting 2 goals for the term, and all of them coming from turnovers by the opposition. Ollie Badr’s goal at the 27-minute mark re-established a small buffer for the visitors, who headed to the main break with an 11-point lead.

Henry Brown made it a 3-goal game for the first time when he struck 5 minutes into the third term, but the Snowdogs gritted their teeth and refused to allow the Cards to slip away.

With Old Scotch continuing to dominate the inside game, the Dogs needed to work overtime to win the ball back around the ground, and they upped their effort to meet the challenge. Their efficiency up forward allowed them to narrow the gap via goals to Karan Bharathi (who was providing his usual speed and spark) and Luca Alessio, and when Daniel Gilham booted his second at the 23-minute mark, the Snowdogs hit the front for the first time.

Will Clark responded late for the Cards, who headed to the final change with a one-kick lead.

Old Scotch seized the early initiative in the final term via goals to Ben Fergusson and Ned Macmillan to extend the margin back out to 17 points approaching time-on. But the imposing presence of Matthew Watson always gave a sense that if St Bernard’s could give him enough opportunities, he could spearhead a late charge. And so it proved to be.

His strong mark and long-range bomb from beyond 50 brought the margin back to 11 points, giving the Snowdogs some hope at the 18-minute mark. He then took a juggling contested mark against two defenders from the resultant centre break, but his thumping kick narrowly missed right to make it 10 points.

However, the vibe at the Snake Pit had clearly shifted.

The Snowdogs had a sniff and lifted accordingly, and when Karan Bharathi marked and goaled from 35 metres out, it was a 3-point game with 25 minutes gone.

The ball went back to the middle, and a centre clearance from Marcus Holland saw a high kick drop between Matthew Watson and two Scotch defenders. Watson used his bulk to hold his position and take another clever mark, 45 metres out directly in front. His set shot sailed through, and the Dogs regained the lead.

Scotch surged the ball forward from the restart, but Ollie Badr’s running left-foot snap thundered into the post to deny the Cards.

The ball was deep inside Scotch’s scoring zone when the siren sounded a couple of minutes later to hand St Bernard’s their first win over Old Scotch since 2017, snapping a 9-game losing streak to the Cards by 2 points.

Zac Overman delivered an outstanding defensive performance, with 26 disposals (19 intercept & 16 contested), 13 one-percenters, 12 spoils and 12 Rebound 50s. His brother Ben also had 26 touches, with 6 Rebound 50s & 6 Inside 50s, in a hard-working two-way effort.

Will Clark was dominant in the ruck for Old Scotch once again (25 disposals, 19 contested, 61 hitouts & 8 clearances), while Alex Noblet, Ollie Badr and Henry Brown all racked up 87 touches between them – Brown with 12 clearances.

Next up, the Snowdogs hit the road to visit the winless SKOB, while Old Scotch will host Old Xavs in the rematch of their all-time classic Preliminary Final.

Steve Alessio (St Bernard’s): “The challenge to get the team up after a significant loss last week was made easier with the positivity of our playing group, who all acknowledged they could perform better than we did in Round 1.

“We had a number of good contributors across the ground, especially Zac Overman, who was solid down back.

“Anzac Day is a special day on the football calendar, and to put on a great game with Old Scotch – one of the best 2 teams over the last 2 seasons – was great for the development of our playing group.

“We are starting to see some fruits from the training we have done, but this competition is relentless, and we are under no illusions that coming up against a St Kevin’s side hunting for their first win of the season is going to be a massive challenge for us.”

Mark Gnatt (Old Scotch): “We were able to generate +11 Inside 50s for the match; however, we were unable to lock the ball in and play a front-half game. Full credit to St Bernard’s – especially young Overman – who consistently intercepted the ball, and this created rebound opportunities.

“Although we were in front for the majority of the match, St Bernard’s were always within striking distance, and they showed great character to win the key moments and the match.

“Our leaders in Clark, Cormack, Brown and Townsend all played well and led from the front. Nick Baring’s 15 tackles were also a highlight.

“We welcomed 2 more debutants from our Under 19 program – George Coldwell and Charlie Hume – who were presented with their jumper by club stalwart Bryan Gibbs in his 71st year involved in our club! George won his 1-on-1 battles, which was great to see in his first senior match.

“Lots of learnings for the group, and we look forward to taking on Xavs at home this Saturday.”

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The University Derby is always a hotly contested affair, and the first Derby of 2026 was no exception as University Blacks and University Blues locked horns at Melbourne Uni.

The Blues got the early jump, scoring two goals in the opening 5 minutes, but the Blacks took control of the air and the ground in the opening term, as their stoppage wins and contested marking saw them respond with 3 goals in 8 minutes to open up a 7-point quarter-time lead.

But the Blues flipped the script in both those aspects of the game in the second term as the game became an arm wrestle, with Sam Grimley booting the only goal of the term 7 minutes in – 1.4 to 0.4 sending the Blues to the half-time break with a hard-fought 1-point lead in a low-scoring struggle.

The game opened up a little more in the third quarter, with Blacks peppering away early, but wasting the opportunity to open up a significant lead. They kicked 2.5 in the first 21 minutes to get out to an 11-point lead, but saw all that effort undone when Blues spearhead Sam Grimley took the game by the scruff of the neck.

Held to 1.2 to this point, he suddenly got off the chain. A soaring mark over the pack adjacent to the behind post was followed by another contested mark 15 metres out 3 minutes later, then a third in the goalsquare shortly after the restart. Three Grimley goals in 4.5 minutes had turned an 11-point deficit into a 7-point lead.

He then added another (his fifth) in the opening minute of the final term, and the Blues were away. A further two goals in two minutes to James Stewart and Mojwok Akoch blew the game wide open midway through the quarter, and while the Blacks fought on, the damage was done.

Uni Blues home in the end by 21 points to remain undefeated, while the Blacks start 0-2 for a fourth straight season.

Marty Gleeson’s shift into the midfield continues to pay dividends – he finished with 26 disposals and 6 clearances, second only to Geordie La Cava’s 28 touches and 8 rebounds. Cam O’Shea had his typical impact with 26 touches, 10 marks and 6 rebounds.

Sam Conway continued his excellent form in the ruck for Blacks, collecting 25 disposals (15 contested) and 15 clearances in another dominant display. Campbell Moorfield (22 and 7 rebounds), Kane Loftus (27) and the very promising Patrick Smith (22 with 7 clearances) were also amongst the best for Dale Bower’s side.

Next up, the Blacks host Old Trinity and will be looking to replicate the pattern of their past two seasons when they lost their first two, then hit the winners’ list in Round 3 to kickstart their season.

Uni Blues hit the road, headed for Caulfield and an appointment with Grammarians.

Matt Smith (Uni Blues): “Our mids’ ability to adapt and at least halve stoppages against a dominant opposition ruck was pleasing, and we controlled the outside with good ball movement and quality possession for much of the day.

“We challenged Sam Grimley to find ways to get involved – and he responded, while Charlie Cotter and Jack Robinson were both electric at ground level all day.

“We’ll continue to focus on executing fundamentals at a consistently high level.”

Dale Bower (Uni Blacks): “The Uni Derby is always a highly competitive game of footy. Coming in with six forced changes is never ideal, but we are far more confident with our depth of talent in 2026.

“We had periods of play where we played the way we wanted, but just didn’t get enough reward on the scoreboard. We put ourselves in a reasonable position midway through the third quarter, but were unable to maintain it, and the Blues took some momentum and scored off the back of it.

“We fought hard in the last, but weren’t able to bridge the small gap. The Blues certainly executed better when it counted and deserved the win. We had a lot of great signs and some exciting footy building.”

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Old Brighton posted their 20th consecutive home win after comfortably accounting for St Kevin’s at Brighton Beach Oval.

The final margin of 24 points was a little deceptive given the Tonners’ dominance for most of the afternoon.

They rocketed out of the blocks with 3 goals in the opening 4 minutes, before boom recruit Jack Behnk responded with his first major for SKOB 5 minutes in – a classy left-foot snap from 45 metres out to temporarily halt Brighton’s charge.

But it was only temporary relief as the Tonners rammed on a further 5 goals in 15 minutes from midway through the first term to head to quarter-time with an eye-opening 43-point lead over a shellshocked St Kevin’s, who had just 5 Inside 50s to Brighton’s 18 for the quarter.

SKOB were butchering the ball by foot – going at just 29% Kick Efficiency in the first stanza – and you simply can’t afford to repeatedly give the ball back to Brighton anywhere, let alone at Brighton.

On the inside, young ruck Josh Carr was engaged in a compelling duel with SKOB superstar Billy Coates, and in the absence of contested beast Luke Winter, who departed St Kevin’s over the summer, Old Brighton were able to win the early clearance and contested footy counts as well.

Anyone who has watched SKOB under Anthony Lynch in recent seasons knew that a second-quarter response was coming, and, sure enough, the visitors put their head over the footy, started to get on top around the contest and used the breeze to good effect, booting 5 goals from 12 Inside 50s.

However, the Tonners still managed to kick 3 into the wind themselves, minimising the damage and retaining a 33-point half-time lead, before adding a further 4 goals to 2 in the third term to head to the final change with a commanding 47-point advantage.

Credit to SKOB, who kept fighting to dominate territory in the final term, racking up 24 Inside 50s to 5 as they won contested footy and played in their own front half, thanks to their intercept game. The visitors would add 5 goals to 2, including a surge of 4 goals in 5 minutes entering time-on to close the margin to 20 points at the 24-minute mark.

But a goal to Luke Travers a minute later put the result beyond doubt – Old Brighton’s home streak extended to 20 straight with a solid 24-point win.

Hamish Dick and emerging youngster Charlie Richardson booted 3 goals apiece, while Luca Macnab racked up 36 disposals (13 contested, 9 Rebound 50s and a goal). Tom Burnell was also outstanding for the Tonners with his 26 touches, 7 clearances, 6 tackles and a goal.

Debutante Jack Bennk and Sam Tucker both kicked 3 for St Kevin’s, while Jacob Koschitzke got involved with a couple of goals as the visitors made their late charge. Billy Coates powered on all afternoon, finishing with 25 disposals (18 contested), 41 hit-outs and 12 clearances, while Noah Walsh (26 disposals) and Cam Hodges (23, 8 tackles, 6 clearances) were also amongst SKOB’s best.

Old Brighton hit the road for the first time next week as they head to Old Haileybury, while St Kevin’s return to TH King to host St Bernard’s in what suddenly shapes as a very interesting game.

Marcel Bruin (Old Brighton): “We were efficient for a lot of the day, but particularly in the first quarter, where we got good reward for workrate and effort. I thought our mids worked really hard at stoppage, and their clearance and contest work created opportunities for the forwards to work in space with quick ball coming in. 

“We capitalised on some good ball movement, and defenders did a good job defending quick entries and then finding marks upfield for some control. SKOB defend so effectively and can move the ball quickly to forwards off intercept, so we were really conscious to try and avoid long balls to their tall backs. 

“I loved the way our group were able to respond to SKOB regaining momentum throughout the game. They had their periods of control, and it was good to be able to adapt and halt momentum. We knew they were going to continue to challenge, and they looked good when they were able to get quick ball into Forward 50 and score, but we did a good job to steady late in the last quarter and finish the game off.

“Tom Burnell, Luca Macnab and Harry Hill all worked incredibly hard, and young Josh Carr did a really good job against a quality ruckman in Coates. His minutes and effectiveness in the ruck gave us some extra flexibility with our rotations, particularly after Tom Fisher went down.”

Anthony Lynch (St Kevin’s): “Old Brighton are still clearly the benchmark in the competition, and their dominant first quarter was the difference in the game. An 8-goal-to-1 first quarter is just unacceptable from our end, and although we technically won the next 3 quarters, it was all for nothing as the margin was too big to make up.

“We have played the two best teams from the 2025 season in the first two weeks, so we’ve got a pretty good audit of where we are at, and right now we are a bit off that top group. So, we have some work to do to get our season back on track.”

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The final game of the weekend saw 2025 Premier B champions Old Trinity bounce back from their opening round loss to pull off an enormous upset of Old Xaverians at Toorak Park.

The T’s are back in William Buck Premier Men’s after three seasons in the second tier, but they were not in the slightest bit overawed by a Xavs line-up that has intimidated plenty of visitors over the past twelve months.

Donald McDonald’s men rolled up the sleeves from the outset, and cracked in hard to get the footy going their way, and after Charlie Macisaac opened the scoring for Xavs, the T’s took control to kick 5 goals in 12 minutes as those watching at the ground or via the VAFA Media livestream began to sit up and take notice.

The visitors were playing inspired, irresistible team football, with contributors spread evenly across the park, jumping out to a 20-point quarter-time lead with the breeze at their backs.

But the pattern of the game continued in the second term, as Old Trinity refused to allow Xavs an easy passage back into the game. The T’s remained in control of territory into the breeze (15 Inside 50s to 8 in Q2), and if not for some inaccuracy around goal, would have extended their lead. In the end, they added 1.4 to 2.0 to still hold a 3-goal buffer at the main interval.

Could the Red & Black find a way back in the third term? Macisaac provided some hope with another early goal, before the T’s slammed the door shut once again by booting 3 goals in 4 minutes to scoot 30 points clear.

Old Trinity was on top inside the contest and around the ground, and when Tom Ferrier and Ben Littlefield goaled early in time-on, the margin was out to a whopping 7 goals.

The Old Xavs’ comeback that most anticipated never arrived, and Trinity were never headed in the final term, kicking the only two goals of the first 22 minutes to seal an incredible victory that will do wonders for the T’s belief and raise an eyebrow of coaches around the competition.

Charlie Knott and Ben Bilston-McGillen added a couple of late consolation goals for Xavs to reduce the final margin to 35 points, but the margin itself was almost irrelevant. What mattered more was the manner in which Old Trinity had won. It was both systematic and emphatic. What a way to post your club’s first top-flight win since 2022!

Luke Teal was superb with 31 disposals (17 contested), 6 clearances and 10 Inside 50s, while Tom Wenn and Hugo McGlashan were in everything with 29 touches apiece – Wenn also contributing 2 goals.

Campbell Lane was Xavs’ leading ball-winner with 30 disposals, while Alex Trigar, Tommy McRae and Sam Hansen were also amongst their best.

Old Trinity head to Melbourne Uni to face the danger of a winless Blacks outfit next week, while plenty of eyes will be on Old Xavs as they visit Old Scotch – the team that shattered their 2025 premiership dream by a single point in the Preliminary Final.

Donald McDonald (Old Trinity): “It was good to get off to a strong start in the first quarter, especially after losing by a big margin the previous week. Xavs kicked the first goal, so for us to really rally and kick five in a row with the wind gave us great momentum and belief.

“It was a great team effort as everyone had a role to play, they did what was expected of them, and we kept at it for four quarters. Our leaders really stood up after the disappointment of last week, however we have to back it up again this week.

“Blacks have been consistently competitive over a number of years now, and this year they are stronger again, so we will have another big challenge on our hands. It will start in the middle, and we’ll have to be able to compete with them.”

Dan Donati (Old Xavs): “Obviously, a really disappointing day for us. I need to give credit to OT though. They worked harder, were clinical around stoppage and dominated territory. We were on the back foot early and never got our game going.

“Plenty of areas for us to focus on and improve, so we’ll go to work this week on all of them, and I know a much improved performance is ahead of us.”

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WILLIAM BUCK PREMIER MEN’S – ROUND 3

SHOWCASE ROUND – EVERY Premier Men’s match STREAMED LIVE & FREE on VAFA.com.au:

SATURDAY MAY 2 – 2pm:

University Blacks                vs             Old Trinity                 VAFA.com.au & SEN app – 1.45pm

Old Scotch                           vs             Old Xaverians           VAFA.com.au & Kommunity TV – 1.55pm

Caulfield Grammarians       vs             University Blues       VAFA.com.au – 1.55pm

Old Haileybury                     vs             Old Brighton              VAFA.com.au – 1.55pm

St Kevin’s                              vs             St Bernard’s               VAFA.com.au – 1.55pm                                      

Watch matches on-demand on VAFATV