Old Scotch are made of the strong stuff

Joe Pignataro

St Kevin’s are the obvious front-runner in William Buck Premier after the weekend but with the scores continuing to be at the lower end of the scale the chasing pack to SKOB is still wide open, including a surprise packet that none of us saw coming. 

The weekend ahead marks the first third of the season down, we’ll look at that in more depth as we get closer. For now, let’s recap round five of the season. 

Old Scotch are starting to strut, and when the boys from Camberwell get their strut on, look out! 

For fans of the Cardinals, they’ve built a good piece of momentum over St Bernard’s in recent times, now winning the previous four encounters. Saturday was no exception to the way they went about their footy. 

Old Scotch produced arguably their most complete performance of the season kicking their highest score for the season, the opening term left many Cardinal fans believing it to be the best start to a game they can remember. 

For the home side St Bernard’s they were kept to their lowest half time score since Round 6, 2019 (0.6.6) against Old Xavier at Toorak Park, while it’s an unwanted record low score at the Snakepit since Round 12, 2016 where Uni Blues held them to 1.5.11.

Scoring is becoming an issue for Bernard’s and kicking winnable scores, the side is averaging 53 points per game while conceding 74.2 points per game. The challenges just keep mounting for Paul Groves’ men as they face off against the ladder leaders at T H King Oval in their next assignment. 

11 different players for Old Scotch hit the scoreboard which will please Mark Gnatt with the even contribution made by the entire team. Hugo Bromell was named best on ground, ably supported by captain Andy Jelbart and Arion Richter-Salter. 

They go into next weekend against their fiercest rivals Old Xav’s full of confidence having won their last two matches. 

The most intriguing contest in the lead up to the round was out at Melbourne University between University Blues and Old Melburnians. OM’s came into the contest with three straight wins, while Blues were coming off consecutive defeats.

Despite getting on top of Blues in the second term with five goals, it was all Uni after half-time kicking five goals to one in a low-scoring affair that gave Guy Martyn his second win of the season. After two goalless rounds Sam Grimley kicked three majors for the home side, Al Armstrong found his way to two goals to keep his tally ticking over. 

OM’s roll home to Elsternwick Park next weekend to face Old Trinity, while Uni Blues will head out to Glen Huntly Oval to face Caulfield. 

After three consecutive losses Old Xaverians are back on the winners list with a 31 point win over Collegians at Toorak Park. The margin could have been significantly greater had Xav’s kicked straight, finishing with 9.21 (75) for the afternoon. 

Collegians did well to stick with the inaccurate Xav’s until 3 quarter time with the margin just eight points, but much like round 4 they were outworked in the final term as the home side took charge to finish stronger. 

Cauley Beetham kicked two up forward while Tom Hart was named the best player on the ground. 

Collegians will look to get back on the winners list in Round 6 with a top 4 contest against Old Brighton. The rivalries for Old Xaverians keep on coming as they travel to Camberwell Sports Park to face off against Old Scotch. 

Patty Kerr returned for St Kevin’s and helped himself to four goals as they stamped their authority at the top of the ladder with a comfortable 87 point win over Old Trinity at the Daley Oval. 

A 33 point half time margin blew out to 71 at 3 quarter time with seven goals to one in the third term. It’s only the third time from 50 scores this season a team has reached the 100+ points milestone, SKOB doing so in Round 3. Sam Critchley went forward and added two goals to his tally, along with Jok, Aplin, Mahoney and Holden. 

In the RSN Carnival Match of the Day, Old Brighton set up their 39 point win over Caulfield Grammarians with the aid of the wind and a five goal opening quarter at Brighton Beach Oval. They managed to kick the only goal of the day to the South Road end in the second term which kept the Fields at bay in the first half. 

Like at Toorak Park, the margin could have been much greater as a wayward Tonners added 2.11.23 in the third term that went 39 minutes. Before the Fields added some respectability in the final quarter as Isaac Morrisby and Jack Wallace kicked goals to cap off a day the Fields would rather forget. 

In conditions that suited the home side, Harry Hill kicked two goals, Tom Fisher was moved out of the midfield and played across half-back in a best on ground display. Darby Hipwell in his debut out for the Tonners showed plenty of zip, while for the Fields, Jack Wallace didn’t stop trying all afternoon in the midfield.