Kew & St Mary’s prove too strong in attack – Division 1 Men’s Round 16 Review

Monash Blues 7.4 (46) def by Preston Bullants 19.22 (136)

After their first loss of the season last week, the Preston Bullants showed their true class with a 90-point victory over the Monash Blues.

The Bullants came out firing in the first half with 18 scoring shots by the main break. However, with an inaccurate 6.12 in the first half, the lead was only 27 points when it could have been much higher.

The third quarter saw Preston return to their dominant best, scoring eight goals to get over the 100-point mark, while keeping the Blues to two goals for the term.

The pattern continued in the final quarter, with Preston breaking away to their 90-point lead, ending the day with 41 scoring shots.

The Bullants’ Tom Hill stood out with seven goals for the day, while the Blues’ Will Snookes continues to keep in touch with the league’s leading goalkickers, with three for the afternoon.

Preston will face St Mary’s Salesian and the Old Yarra Cobras in the final two rounds of the season, having already cemented their number one spot on the ladder.

While Monash will play an on-fire Kew side, and a Parkside team fighting tooth and nail for finals contention.

Brunswick 5.7 (37) def by Kew 33.20 (218)

With Division 1’s highest score of the season, Kew ended the day with an incredible 33.20, building a massive margin of 181 points between them and their opponent, Brunswick.

Kew continued their sensational run towards finals with another massive win, starting with a 12-goal-to-two lead in the first half before piling on 14 goals in the third quarter and another seven before the final siren.

The Bears shared the scoring around, with five players over three goals each. Brandon Cahir and Miller Eastham with five, and Alex Chiocci, Oscar Kerfordrui and Ned Waters with four.

Brunswick put up a valiant effort, led by Jackson Davis’ two goals, but couldn’t match Kew’s dominance.

After defeating the ladder leaders last week, Kew will go into their final two games against Monash and UHS-VU with a healthy level of confidence. The chances of them missing finals are slim to none.

Whereas Brunswick will be trying to ruin the party for their remaining opponents, both Prahran and Oakleigh will likely need to win against them if they want to keep their spot in finals.

UHS-VU 8.6 (54) def by Oakleigh 18.18 (126)

Oakleigh continued to hold their spot in the top four and are building some impressive form heading into the final weeks of the season.

UHS-VU kept in touch with Oakleigh for the first quarter, but by the half-time break the lead had broken out to a 31-point differential.

The Krushers kept expanding the lead, with a 10-goal to four second half, enabling another comfortable win for the fourth-placed side. With seven goals for Elliot Black, and five for vice-captain Rogan Kitts, the offensive power of Oakleigh was impressive.

Oakleigh have Brunswick and St Mary’s Salesian remaining on their fixture and will likely need to win both games to hold on to their top four spot. Parkside are only one game behind Oakleigh, and due to some big losses earlier in the year, Oakleigh has a noticeably worse percentage than Parkside.

UHS-VU, on the other hand, can still technically escape the relegation zone if they are able to get some solid wins against Parkside and Kew. However, this will be an uphill battle against good sides and will also require Monash to lose both of their upcoming matchups.

St Mary’s Salesian 17.10 (112) def Old Yarra Cobras 9.10 (64)

The Old Yarra Cobras found the goals eventually, but they couldn’t compete against a fiery eight-goal first quarter from St Mary’s Salesian.

With 69 points by half-time, St Mary’s came out firing. The Saints can’t technically make finals this year, but they are still aiming for a positive win-loss ratio this year and to build some momentum heading into next season.

Eight goals for Hamish MacMillan were nearly enough to match the Cobras final score. The Cobras have been struggling to put on scores this year, resulting in them still being lossless to this point.

However, Old Yarra’s developing players showed some signs, and there was a fair range of goal kickers in the second half.

St Mary’s will face top of the table Preston next week, and Oakleigh in the final round, a game which may decide the final look of the top four.

The Cobras will be hard-pressed to find their first win against their final two opponents, with them yet to face third-placed Prahran and first-placed Preston.