Luckless Cardinals as De La, Xavs breathe sigh of relief

Nick Armistead – @NickArmistead

Is Old Scotch the unluckiest 0-7 side in recent memory? After falling two points short of snatching an unbelievable come-from-behind victory against De La Salle over the weekend, it takes their average losing margin over the first seven rounds to 11.9 points. Six of their seven losses have been by 15 points or less, while their 33-point defeat at the hands of SKOB was the closest any team had got to the reigning premiers prior to this round. The Cardinals were outstanding when the game opened up in the fourth term and kicked four unanswered goals but fell agonisingly short when Max Martin missed a set shot after the final siren. On a positive note for the Cardinals, former Port Melbourne player, Josh Halsall, made his return from injury through the reserves and will add another layer of class upon his call-up to the senior side in coming weeks. As for De La, their season is well and truly back on track after they secured their second consecutive victory and kept the opposition to 10 goals or less for the third time this season. Young gun, Sam Michael, was instrumental to his side’s win while Jake Williams continued the stellar 2018 form that has him named in the best five times from his seven games. The main concern for the fifth-placed De La in their push for finals is a percentage of 80.85% which ranks eighth in the competition. They need a strong win over OMs this week before heading to TH King Oval and facing SKOB.

Both University Blues and Old Trinity will feel as though they missed an opportunity on the weekend after they ended the match tied 89-89 at Uni Oval. The Blues entered the fourth term with a 27-point lead but felt firsthand the hard-running, unrelenting nature of the T’s when they kicked six goals to two in the final term. The final quarter was not without its fair share of controversy after Marshall Rippon kicked a ‘bluemooner’ out of defence, with the ball travelling out on the full and landing back within the boundary line at the 27m mark. The T’s took the lead via Anthony Scott’s second goal of the day soon after, only to relinquish it one minute later when Marc James marked, received a 25m penalty for being dragged to the ground and converted to square things up. Both sides had their opportunities to win but will share the points, creating an exciting imbalance on the ladder which could well play a significant role in the standings later in the home and away season. Despite sitting seventh on the ladder, the Blues rank third for points per game at 86.3. However, it’s their defence where they’re averaging 91 points against and ranking 10^th where the improvement will need to come.

Old Xaverians will breath a sigh of relief after they put a one-game buffer between themselves and ninth spot on the ladder following an impressive 27-point victory over Collegians at Toorak Park. Xavs came from 12 points down at three quarter time and piled on eight goals to two in the final term, with Matt Handley continuing his phenomenal form with six goals. Ben Kennedy and Clay Johnston found plenty of the ball thanks largely to the ruck work of Jason Holmes – the pre-eminent tap ruckman in the competition. Xavs are now 2-1 since Matt Hannebery took over as senior coach and face Old Scotch this weekend for the first time since their Round 18 ‘relegation battle’ in 2015. The loss was Collegians’ first for the season, but it was the injury toll which is of concern for the Lions. They’d lost several players prior to three quarter time; including, leading goal kicker Will Johnson, Anthony Bruhn, Matt Jenkinson and Oliver Jones. On a positive note, Matt Singleton returned through the 2’s with three goals, while Seb Evans and Billy Riddle have both played the past two weeks in the reserves and are more than capable of coming into the senior side.

St Kevin’s OB’s unbeaten run stretched to seven wins after they came from behind to defeat St Bedes/Mentone Tigers by 14 points at Brindisi St Oval. SKOB trailed for most of the day and by as much as 21 at the half, before flicking a switch only SKOB can flick and kicking nine goals to three in the second half. The big names stood up for SKOB when they were down; including, Mitch Brown, James Strauss, Sam Critchley, Nick Wood and Lachie Sullivan. It was a disappointing result for the Tigers given the strength of their first three quarters but as previously mentioned, few teams can compete when the above names are all firing for SKOB. Josh Cowan produced his best game for the season and Jaryd Robertson returned after a week off with a standout performance. They certainly won’t feel daunted by the commute to Uni Oval this weekend after they defeated the Blues by six points at the same venue in Round 4 last year.

It was always going to be fascinating to see how Old Brighton would bounce back after their first loss of the season to SKOB last week, but they gained even more respect with an outstanding 39-point victory over Old Melburnians at Brighton Beach Oval. The Tonners had given up their three highest scores against for the season over the past three rounds (80 v OX, 102 v UB & 129 v SKOB) but tightened up defensively with Old Melburnians kicking just 44. Anthony Zimmerman was a standout for the home side, as was Will Lewis and Dylan Verney. At 6-1, the Tonners (3^rd) require just five wins from their last 11 games to book a finals spot and they are now three games clear of those in fifth and sixth. OMs were led by George Hurley-Wellington and Angus Clarke but never managed to get into the game after falling to a 22-point deficit at the half. There were notable names running around in the reserves such as Tim Marshall and Patrick Garschagen due to work commitments, while Nick De Steiger and Mitch Banner are still sidelined.