It’s getting tight at the top as part of moving round in William Buck Premier Men’s

Joe Pignataro

Friday night footy, a new ladder leader, a change in the bottom two. Round 8 promised so much in William Buck Premier, and it delivered in spades! 

Old Brighton and St Kevin’s was billed as the most exciting match of the round. The Tonners have held out a fast-finishing SKOB to take top spot. Incredibly, it’s the third match in a row between these two sides with the final margin falling Brighton’s way, by three points. 

A tight affair all afternoon, saw Hutch’s troops breakaway in the early part of the final term before the spirited fightback of St Kevin’s came, and came hard. Unfortunately, like last Saturday, the siren beat another surge forward and it’s back-to-back losses after six straight wins. 

Since Old Brighton went down to Old Scotch they’ve gone on a four game winning streak and franking the pre-season form our analysts thought they’d show. 

Tom Blamires (2), and Jordan Segar (2) hit the scoreboard in the absence of Will Lewis while Kerr (3) and Edgar (2) led the way for St Kevin’s. Again, Harry Hill has been named in the best, and Alfred Jarnestrom. 

Next week, we have a potential look at an early September contest again for the Tonners who will face off against Old Melburnians, who ran rampant on Friday night. While St Kevin’s welcome former coach and University Blues to T H King. 

University Blues have gone from 7th, to 5th and now to 4th in the last month of the season. Accounting for Old Xaverians by 24 points. Another weekend that included seven changes before the bounce, the challenge was made even tougher when Marc James (concussion) and Lachie Swaney (ankle) joined the list of unavailable players before half-time. 

In unfamiliar territory this season, the Blues held the lead all afternoon and there were nervous moments as Xav’s brought the margin to under a kick two minutes into the final term. Enter, Matt Crocker, Fletcher McIvor, Cam O’Shea and Sam Grimley, the Blues slammed home five goals in a row to snuff out any further fightback. 

Sam Grimley (4) was the #1 man up forward, he spent the afternoon being guarded by his former Hawthorn teammate Ryan Schoenmakers and at times Benedict Banting. He extended his lead on the sharpshooters to nine goals ahead of Ed Greene and Paddy Kerr. 

A lot has been made about the “names” at the Blues, but what is impressing Guy Martyn is Charlie Furphy, Eddie Ziebarth, James Fulton, Fletcher McIvor all standing up when it matters the most. They’re also proving there’s more strings to the bow of the club without a heavy reliance on Ayce Cordy, Keiran Harper, Dan Batarilo, Alex Fasolo and many others. 

The freedom Old Xav’s were granted against St Kevin’s was swallowed up by University Blues. Late withdrawals of Denis Symeopoulos and Xavier Richards wasn’t helpful to the cause. They didn’t go away and fought right to the end, Will Hams, Ryan Schoenmakers and Benedict Banting were all part of the best afield for Xav’s. Jack Hewitt and Charlie MacIsaac provided goal of the year contenders. They’ll be wanting to regroup quickly next week when they host Old Trinity at Toorak Park. 

Old Trinity met an Old Scotch team going along nicely under the guidance of Mark Gnatt. A low-scoring first half saw the Cardinals hold an 11 point lead. With some words of inspiration at the main change, Old Scotch put the foot down with an explosive third quarter of footy. 

An 8-goal term blew the margin and put the game beyond doubt. Had we not seen it in the opening round of the season it may raise eyebrows and surprise us further, but quarters like that are exactly what the Cardinals are capable of on their day. 

Tyler Sellers (4), Tom Blenheim (4), and Connor Goodison (2) were too strong in the forward line, while Myles Scott (2) was the only multiple goalscorer for the T’s. 

The victory grows the percentage of Old Scotch, they’re nearly back to the even 100% (98.52%) and currently they’re equal on the William Buck Premier ladder with Old Xaverians at 4-4. If they’re to turn next weekend at 5-4 from the first half of the year, they’d see that as an overwhelming success. 

Caulfield Grammarians victory against St Bernard’s has pushed them out of the relegation zone for the time being. The victory set up with 8 goals to 3 during second and third quarters at Glen Huntly Oval. 

The tall brigade of the Fields troubled St Bernard’s for most of the afternoon. Sauro, Di Lizio and Harry Kennedy all missing for the young pups. Add to that Grovesy’s coaching panel (Bernie Dineen and Aasta O’Connor) missing through illness. The challenge became insurmountable as the day went on. 

A multiple spread of goal kickers across the ground for the Fields, Lachie Stephens (4), Jack Ellwood (3). Julian Dobosz, Oliver Lowe and Dane Crognale all kicking 2 majors each. 

Next Saturday becomes a mini-final for St Bernard’s and Collegians, the Snowdogs will be looking for their second win of the year and pushing to get out of the bottom spot. While the purple army will want to cut a run of five straight losses. 

It went from a beautiful Friday night at Harry Trott, to a shocker and one to forget in the space of a couple of hours for Collegians. Old Melburnians gave them a football lesson under lights. 

It was threatening in the build up to be a tight affair with Josh Freezer a late withdrawal from the Melburnians backline. 60 seconds into the game, Dave Mirra had Collegians on the board. What followed from there until 3 quarter time was an OM’s precession. 16 unanswered goals to get the margin to nearly triple figures, before the Lions kicked the final five goals of the contest. 

Our vote getters on the night all shared in the goal kicking with Jackson Paine (3), Justin De Steiger (3) and Gus Borthwick (3). The latter put on a clinic through the midfield. Ed Nichols showed all why he was deserving of the 2021 Rising Star award and Nick De Steiger was able to flex his muscles as Matt Singleton was a late withdrawal leaving Oli Jackson the lone ranger in the ruck. 

OM’s are equal top of the table with percentage separating them. Next weekend it’s got all the makings of what you want in a game of footy as they welcome Old Brighton to Elsternwick Park. 

Photo: Bruce Tobin, Collegians FC