Drubbings and droolings

Rich Hummerston

A divide has begun to settle on Division 4 after four rounds, as four of five games ended in 100+ point drubbings. Although a week is a long time in football, so is the difference between a 100 point loss and any sort of win. Whether time can turn inside out and these four sides can turnaround their fortunes is something that remains to be seen. Focusing on the victors, we know that Canterbury, Manningham and Old Westbourne are ruthless units when they get in their groove.

In a hard fought battle at Allard Park, it was Point Cook who proved supreme and firmed as a premiership fancy. With a huge first term, Point Cook held firm for the rest of the day to come out 38 point victors. William Dawson continued his fine form with a bag of four for the victors, supported by three each from Paul Hegarty and Daniel Sidwell. Young gun Mason Kip has catapulted into OJ Meehan contention with another best on ground performance. For the defeated Brunswick boys, Adam Karim booted four whilst Nicholas Trewhella battled hard in the clinches.

The long drive to Mount Lilydale was no barrier to Canterbury continuing their Division 4 dominance, with a huge 113 point win. Scott ‘the Great Gatsby’ Fitzgerald produced one of the highlights of the season with a 12 goal haul against Mount Lilydale’s hapless defence. Whilst Mt Lilydale are steadily improving, there were few positives to take from this game minus a strong second quarter. Max Hampton kicked three and was best on the ground for Mount Lilydale as the Cobra lads, including star mids Lachlan Chapman and Lachlan Giles, ran amok on the heavy ground.

Fellow Cobras, Manningham, crushed newcomers Masala at Koonung Reserve by a similar margin. The 118 point win received an exclamation mark in the form of an excellent spread of goal kickers that would have the Manningham faithful smiling. Christopher Jolly moved to 15 goals for the season with another bag of five. Tommy Bell excelled with 3 goals and 30+ possessions. After last week’s disappointment at Canterbury Sports Ground in the Cobra Derby, they’d be pleased with their demolition this week. For Masala it was another steep learning curve with Feda Alidad promising with two goals.

As we have established, it was more of the same at Parkside as Chadstone remained winless after four rounds. Chadstone stormed out to an early lead at quarter time and looked the better side with 10 shots to 5 but it was Vulture heaven from that point on as they shopped ‘til they dropped, coming out 123 point winners. Chadstone, led by Ian Bingham’s four goals, simply ran out of legs as Parkside showed their depth. The Shanes, McLaren and Potter, combined to kick 12 goals as the flurry of forward ventures allowed Parkside to have a monopoly on play in the second half. They need to beat Mount Lilydale this weekend to stay in touch with the top 4.

Two teams at different ends of Division 4 faced off and unsurprisingly it was Westbourne Grammarians who clobbered South Mornington in front of a steady crowd at Westbourne School Ground. Dale Collins and Jesse Humphreys kicked 13 goals between them and were irrepressible in attack. If trees could talk, they might have been whispering about the excellent delivery into the forward line from Westbourne, or they might not. South Mornington struggled from the get go and look destined to fight out for the lower echelons of the table. One of the positives was sole goal kicker Wesley Spencer, who played well. Next week is a great chance to get a win on the board against Chadstone in a bottom of the table clash.

This week’s fixtures

Canterbury and Westbourne Grammarians face off in the match of the round. I believe Canterbury will win in a close one at home with Fitzgerald too hard to stop. In other games, North Brunswick will be too strong for the developing Masala, South Mornington to break the duck against Chadstone, Parkside to travel successfully against Mount Lilydale and Point Cook to continue their rampaging form over Box Hill North coming off the bye.

Tips this week

North Brunswick v Masala
Canterbury v Westbourne
Chadstone v South Mornington
Lilydale v Parkside
Point Cook v Box Hill North