Scotch snuff Fields flame, halt 11-game stretch

Jake Morris

Football returns! League giants do battle, Petering has a field day, Gooda the hero and upsets aplenty highlighted an exciting round of action for Premier B.

We’d be remiss not to start with our clash of the titans. After 11 rounds of scintillating football, it was Old Scotch who have finally knocked off Caulfield Grammarians to put an end to their 321-day unbeaten run. Held scoreless and trailing by 30 points at the first break, Scotch were in dire straits of potentially falling two games behind their ladder-leading opponents. Enter Lachlan Byrne-Jones. The Cards’ young gun turned the game on its head in the second term, booting two of his four goals for the day, helping pull his side back to within a manageable margin at the main break. Now trailing by just five with a quarter to play, Scotch proceeded to boot five of the last seven goals in the fourth, with a Will Carrington bomb from 50m giving the Cards’ their first lead of the day early in the term. Scotch would hold firm from thereon to run out 14-point victors and put an end to the Fields’ incredibly impressive 11-game stand. Carrington was named best afield for his side while Byrne-Jones was instrumental with four-majors. Ruckman Jared Risol was given the votes for the Fields, while Lachlan Stephens was their only multiple goal-scorer with two in a fantastic game of football.

Arising from out of the relegation zone following the results of Round 12 was Monash Blues, claiming win number three on the year in a 70-point drubbing of Old Geelong. Despite Joe Cosgriff and Zac Ledin receiving the BOG votes for the Blues, the day belonged to Nic Petering and his five-goal haul, guiding his side to the much-needed victory. With a number of outs plaguing their senior line up, the OG’s followed-up their 20-point total from Round 11 with another less-than-desirable score of 29 points in Round 12. Following these two totals, the Geelong side now drop to the lowest points total for the year in Premier B with just 690pts – an average of 57 points a match. Sam Anderson, Will Langley, Toby Lever and Will Sloss all kicked one apiece, with Sloss named his sides best in another disappointing outcome for Old Geelong.

While the big guns battled it out for top spot, the battle for fourth also raged on with St Bedes/Mentone Tigers (5^th) claiming a monumental victory over Beaumaris (4^th) to bring both sides to 24 premiership points and just 3.59% difference on the table. A dominant six-goal-to-nil opening term was ultimately the difference in this one, as the Sharks were simply unable to recover from such a prominent start. Nathan Fahey bagged another three for the Tigers while Chris Mangoni was once again outstanding as he continues his fantastic year for the club. Harrison Edwards was the only multiple goal-scorer for the Sharks with two while Callum Heath was named his sides best.

After three rounds featuring low scores and back-to-back losses, University Blacks returned to form as they made light work of Fitzroy, running out convincing 94-point victors. The tone was set early, as the Blacks smelt blood in the water and launched out of the gates to an insurmountable 63-point lead at halftime. Cam Roberts’ men would continue their charge in the second half, pushing the margin towards the century mark to help etch win number nine of the year. Josh Wooding, Jarrod Carlson, Bede Mahon, Luke Sevior and Daniel McCollough all booted three on the afternoon, with 2017 Woodrow medallist, Bede Mahon, named BOG. Harrison Grace was named Fitzroy’s best but with the defeat, it pushes the Roys’ back into the relegation zone (10^th).

Now sitting just one game behind the battle for fourth, Old Haileybury are making a late-season charge to an unlikely finals berth after they grabbed their third win from four games, downing Parkdale by five points. Nick Gooda’s set-shot with under a minute left help quell the Vultures final-quarter fightback, lifting the Bloods to their most important victory of the year. Peter Gleadhill was named best afield for Old Haileybury while Jack Munro, Nick Garratt, Samuel Lowe and Gleadhill all kicked two. Tom Jenkins was named Parkdale’s best as they narrowly missed a golden opportunity at home to keep tabs on a top-four finish.