Little Pink Houses become Holmes

Will Balme

Linking John ‘Cougar’ Mellancamp’s 1983 song ‘Little Pink Houses’, which critiqued the homogenisation of middle class USA and the contradictions of the term ‘freedom’ within society, with Mothers’ Day and Louis Holmes’ 7 goals in St Mary’s Salesian’s classic comeback against Whitefriars is not something I would wish upon my greatest foe, but I have taken on the task.

We celebrated pink, the colour, the spirit and the delicate touch that represents womanhood over the weekend and with that; the inevitable questions arise about how to honour the women in our life. Do we all have to subscribe to the commercial notions that only a gift of significant value will show our complete and utter devotion to our mothers’, grandmothers’ et al? Or can we break the shackle of commercialism and break down the little pink houses and realise that our presence and love is enough? Louis Holmes’ showed that his presence and desire was enough to drag St Mary’s out of the deluge and into the winners’ circle. In retrospect I should have just referenced that the contribution of women to the VAFA and our lives in general is far too significant for a mere VAFA scribe to sum up. Additionally, great song and great performance from Mellancamp and Holmes respectively.

Continuing on with the St Mary’s Salesian and Whitefriars game, the sting of losing a game that they led by 39 points at one stage will haunt the Friars for many weeks to come. Coming into the game at 1-3 and needing a win to stay in the pack, Whitefriars shocked the hot and cold St Mary’s outfit with their sharp and focused performance for the first three quarters. However, the final quarter saw SMS finally turn on the switch to kick 8 goals to 1 and turn the seemingly academic result into a boil over. As previously mentioned in the clumsy opening monologue, Louis Holmes kicked 4 in the last to drag his boys over the line. Sid Jones continued his impressive form with 3 goals and his usual kamikaze-like attack on the ball. For the Friars, Ryan Malt was terrific with 4 goals, with Sean Currie playing a strong game in the midfield. In better news for the Old Boys, senior player Aaron Brosolo’s suspected broken leg was just a mirage, and the great man is expected to be back on the park in 2-3 weeks.

Old Geelong followed trend with an 8 goal to 1 last quarter at Alec Gillon Oval, embarrassing the hitherto impressive NOBS/St Pats to come out 45-point winners. With the game in the balance at ¾ time, it was Callum Wood who secured the 3 votes with a gladiatorial 8-goal haul. As the ladies luncheon roared on, both sides played a magnificent third term with Kyle Adams and star veteran Matt Keown in particular playing inspired footy for NOBSPC. With the game on the line, Old Geelong’s tried and true produced a truly dominant last quarter, something that will worry the other stalwarts of the competition. Along with Wood, Colby O’Brien yet again played a strong game in the midfield and Andrew Leahy worked hard across the ground.

The Kew Bears remained undefeated in their return to the ground that produced the first of their back-to-back premierships in 2013 down in Division 3, Ted Ajani Reserve. Rumour has it premiership captain Michael Cochrane plans on naming his new kitten ‘Teddy’ in honour of the ground. Despite giving up an 11-point half time deficit to Bulleen Templestowe, the Bears were able to stymie the Bullants’ forward line in the second half, coming out 29-point victors. Ned Rohrt, who played in the reserves on that memorable afternoon, summed up the Bears’ commitment to the ball with a hard-nosed, selfless performance in the middle. Last week’s Rising Star Rob Maibaum combined well with Andrew Brazzale up forward, as the pair kicked 8 goals between them. For Bulleen, despite a praiseworthy performance, lacked the midfield depth to go with Kew for four quarters. Stellan Avramidis and Mason Giles, playing fierce and determined footy, were amongst the best for the Bullants.

In a high scoring affair, Yarra Valley’s 2015 season remains in dire straits as they fell to the attacking Old Mentonians outfit. Going goal for goal for much of the afternoon, it was not until final term that Old Mentonians finally opened up an insurmountable lead. The Letson brothers (I’ve made presumptions before so I’m hoping their siblings), kicked 7 goals between them for the Bushrangers, and once again rangy defender Damien ‘Denis’ Pagan played his effervescent role, however the forward line power of Rossi and Mills proved too much for the undersized Bushrangers. On the back of big raps last week, Comrey Edgeworth bombarded the Yarra Valley midfield and backline with help from usual suspect Luke Hull. Yarra Valley faces a crucial clash with Whitefriars this week in the hope of getting their season rolling.

Ormond encountered a promising performance from Prahran Assumption, before extending their undefeated streak at Toorak Park. The question marks over Prahran’s poor start to the year can be answered by assessing their draw, however, they’ll be frustrated with their last quarter efforts thus far. With gun centre half forward Gerard Hogarth sidelined in the first quarter with a hamstring injury, the Assumption men were immediately placed on the back foot. John Robbins produced a strong performance in his absence, kicking 3, and performing his usual wizardry, but it simply wasn’t enough to prevent the rampaging Monders’ from collecting another scalp. Rob Chisholm kicked 5 goals and James Landman was the best of a very good bunch. As seems to be the case when analysing the difference between teams in this division, it is the ball use from the half back line that allows good sides’ crucial time to build strong forward thrusts. Ormond is a very, very competent side in this regard.

Willie Bee’s Clive Waterhouse MOTR 

Look no further than the mouthwatering clash between Prahran Assumption and St Mary’s Salesian at Ferndale Park for Clive’s MOTR. With Prahran struggling at 1-4 and St Mary’s clinging onto fourth after a series of indifferent results, both sides desperately need to win. With Hogarth in doubt, SMS will be favoured. However, I’m expecting the weather to play a role.

Prahran Assumption by 3 points.

Round 6 tips

Old Geelong v Bulleen Templestowe

Yarra Valley v Whitefriars

Ormond v Old Mentionians

St Mary’s Salesian v Prahran Assumption

Kew v NOBS/St Pats