Division 1 Men’s Round Review

Old Yarra Cobras (4.4 – 28) def by St Mary’s Salesian (20.15 – 135)

The trend of big wins continued with a 107-point win by St Mary’s Salesian over the Old Yarra Cobras. St Mary’s did most of the damage early, breaking away to a 61-point lead by half time and only expanding this for the rest of the game.

St Mary’s coach Heath Chipperfield was happy with the win, but was even happier with his team’s execution.

“Good outcome yesterday, but even more pleasing was our method and how we played,” he said. “I thought there were vast improvements in a number of areas, particularly our composure and decision making with the ball.”

As expected in a 100-point victory, there were plenty of stand outs around the ground for St Mary’s, with debutants Liam Greening and Jacob Quarrel having a great start, alongside Ben Tricarico and Jason Rubidge in the middle, who, Chipperfield said, “responded well following last week”.

Jack Elliston’s six-goal third quarter (seven for the match), as well as Trent Ryan with five of his own, got plenty of praise, especially after a couple of quieter weeks.

St Mary’s will be up against top of the ladder Preston next week. When asked about the tough matchup ahead, coach Chipperfield said “we’ll take a lot of confidence from the weekend and look forward to the challenge of taking on the benchmark of the comp”. The Cobras will be travelling to face off against third-placed Prahran.

Brunswick (17.12 – 114) def Oakleigh (15.8 – 98)

Brunswick defeated Oakleigh by 16 points on the weekend in a game of massive momentum swings. Brunswick opened the game on top, taking a seven-point lead into the first break.

However, an eight goal second term saw Oakleigh ahead by 36 at the main break. Brunswick responded in the second half, though, regaining control over the game with an eight-goal quarter of their own, taking back the lead and holding onto it in a high-scoring contest.

Round 8 will see Oakleigh come up against UHS-VU at home. We’ll see if Oakleigh can put together a four-quarter performance against a struggling side. Brunswick will be travelling to play Kew, who are similarly coming off their own 100-plus point final score in Round 7.

Parkside (4.7 – 31) def by Prahran (4.9 – 33)

In the closest match of the round, and a top-four clash, Parkside and Prahran fought it out for second place. In a low-scoring but hotly contested match, Prahran maintained a close lead for most of the match. Taking a five point, and one point lead into quarter time and half time, respectively.

Parkside took a brief lead at three quarter time with a three-point margin. In the final term, Prahran were able to keep Parkside goalless and take back the lead, despite being the less accurate side on the day.

With the win, Prahran were able to equalise with Parkside on the ladder for points. However, the small winning margin of two points didn’t do enough to increase their percentage of 168.38 per cent, allowing for Parkside to hold onto second spot by a miniscule 0.13 per cent.

Parkside coach Rick Frost reiterated that it was a hotly contested game. “Space was hard to find with the numbers around the ball,” he said.

In amongst the contest, coach Frost gave praise to a couple of key players.

“Corey McKay was excellent for us, as well as Joel Steven’s.”

Prahran assistant coach Patrick Marks said something similar: “The game was very back and forth with both defences being very strong rebounding and high pressure.”

On his side of the ground, Marks gave shout-outs to his backline, with Jayden Williams, Liam Hepburn, Patrick Ribbands, and Tyler Atkinson in particular, alongside the hard-working Mackenzie Mayne, who had plenty of ball in the middle.

A change in pace sees Prahran host the Old Yarra Cobras in Round 8, with the Cobras still looking for their first win. Parkside will similarly host a struggling Monash side.

Kew (25.15 – 165) def UHS-VU (4.7 – 31)

Kew racked up 25 goals in a one-sided affair against the struggling side of University High School – Victoria University. Kew kept UHS-VU goalless at half time, while having 10 goals of their own.

This lead only continued to build, despite UHS-VU managing to get 11 scoring shots on the board, with four goals. This couldn’t compete with Kew’s firepower, however, with the side having 40 scoring shots, and finishing the game with a lead of 134 points.

Kew will have a tough contest in Round 8, facing off against Brunswick. Brunswick so far this year has the greatest points ‘against’, while Kew greater points ‘for’, so we will see if defence or offence wins out on the day.

UHS-VU will be up against Oakleigh, who, after coming off a loss in Round 7, will be fighting to get back in contention for the top two spots.

Preston (25.20 – 170) def Monash Blues (5.1 – 31)

In the biggest win of the week, Preston kept their undefeated record going with a 139-point victory over the Monash Blues.

With nine multiple goal scorers, Preston hit the scoreboard immediately with 15 goals to Monash’s one in the first half. While the Blues had a bit more success in the second half with four goals, it couldn’t compare to another 10 for the ladder leaders Preston.

Preston will be up against another big winner in round eight, with a home game against opponents St Mary’s Salesian. Preston will hope to keep their flawless winning streak alive while approaching the second half of the season.

The Blues will be up against Parkside, who, having come off a close two-point margin loss, will be fighting to get back on the winners’ list.