VAFA William Buck Premier Men’s Round 7 Preview

Will Round 7 of VAFA William Buck Premier Men’s shake up the ladder and start to break up the logjam? There are plenty of big questions to be answered.

Did Old Melburnians turn their entire season around with that gritty 2-goal win over Uni Blacks last week? It snapped a four-game losing streak for OMs, lifted them off the bottom and, incredibly, saw them move to within one game of the Top 4.

Now can they repeat the dose against the other Uni side as University Blues roll into Elsternwick Park?

The Blues have been one of the more difficult teams to assess so far in 2024, given they’ve been able to grind out three impressive tight wins but have also dropped a couple of games that they could have won, including last week’s disappointment against Old Xavs, when they wasted some late chances and fell 19 points short.

The Blues will welcome the return of the League’s leading goalkicker, Sam Grimley, who missed last week’s game due to a personal commitment.

Without their spearhead, they took just 3 Marks Inside 50 and converted those into 1.1. Expect them to be far more potent with their main man deep and his in-form partner James Stewart roaming up and back.

OMs will be looking to minimise supply to Blues’ twin towers and that must start at the source – around the stoppages.

Last week against Blacks, they sharked a dominant opposition ruckman and won the clearance battle, with Ben Harding (44 disposals, 12 contested possessions and 4 clearances) and Will Nichols (33 disposals, 17 contested possessions) both winning plenty of hot footy.

OM’s lead the competition in One-Percenters. Can they do the little things well enough for long enough to cause another upset? Or will the class and power of Uni Blues see them bounce back and jump up into the Top 4?

Catch every moment of our VAFA SEN match of the day live on the SEN app, SEN.com.au & VAFA.com.au from 1.45pm Saturday.

Over the last two weeks, Fitzroy have proved they belong in their first season of Premier Men’s with a breakthrough win over OMs followed by last week’s almighty scare of St Kevin’s that ultimately saw them fall just a couple of goals short.

Now they get to test themselves against the reigning premiers as they host an in-form Collegians at Brunswick Street Oval.

The Roys showed plenty of pluck when they booted 3 goals in 4 minutes to snatch the lead from SKOB in the third term but couldn’t quite hang on. But coach Travis Ronaldson was delighted with the performance.

“Endeavour and effort were outstanding for four quarters against a good side. We gave ourselves a chance to win the game – just need to work on our polish and moving the footy between the arcs.”

Despite being smashed in the territory battle, the Roys’ defence absorbed the pressure superbly, led by Nathan Ligris (36 disposals, 10 Rebound 50s). They will be hoping they can hang with the Lions a little better on the inside in order to even up the territory game this week.

Fitzroy are the #1 Tackling team in the comp at the moment and they’ll need to bring that heat against a Collegians line-up that is getting healthier and more confident by the week. They’ve peeled off 4 straight wins and are starting to firm as a contender once again as their inside-to-outside game comes together.

They racked up an incredible 412 disposals against the Snowdogs last week and if the likes of Jim Bazzani (34 disposals, 10 clearances), Nathan Boucher (32 disposals, 6 clearances) and Josh Walker (30 disposals, 12 contested, 3 goals) get off the chain again, it could be a long day for the Roys.

But never write off Fitzroy in front of their passionate faithful at Brunswick Street and this one promises to be another spirited affair as two entertaining sides go at it.

Catch our Fitzroy vs Collegians double-header live streaming on Kommunity TV from 11.40am Saturday (Reserves) into the Seniors from 1.45pm, featuring a special pre-game smoking ceremony.

What a game is in store at Camberwell Sportsground as 3^rd placed St Kevin’s (4-2) visit 4^th placed Old Scotch (3-3) in what promises to be a revealing clash.

SKOB took the full four quarters to get over Fitzroy last week in a clash which Anthony ‘Plugger’ Lynch described as ‘it won’t be a game to watch back but we found a way to win.’

And that’s what good teams do – they find ways to win when they are below the best due to personnel or form, and St Kevin’s have had a mixed bag so far in 2024. Yet they still sit third.

They dominated the Roys on the inside, winning Clearances 56-39, led by a whopping 14 from Will Coates. And they used that inside dominance to control territory, locking it Inside 50 with manic tackling pressure.

But, as has been the case for a while now, SKOB’s biggest challenge has been Scoring Efficiency – just 10.10 to show from their 64 entries.

They are a combative contested team though, which always has them squarely in games and the Cardinals are going to need to match that this week if they are to compete.

Old Scotch was blown away by the Tonners’ intensity early last Saturday before settling into the game once the damage had already been done.

Like every other team who has faced Old Brighton, they struggled to move the footy – that will be a focus for them against St Kevin’s, who pride themselves on making everything difficult.

Can the Cardinals leapfrog SKOB or will the visitors maintain their one game advantage over the chasing pack at 3-and-3? We’re about to learn a lot about these two potential contenders.

View the Week 7 Amateur Footballer Record >

St Bernards have been wracked with injuries and an already young list is being exposed to the realities of VAFA footy at the highest level.

But one thing can never be questioned about the Snowdogs and that’s their fight and they’ll be snarling at the prospect of handing league-leaders Old Brighton their first loss as they roll into the Snake Pit.

Steve Alessio’s Dogs tend to play open, high-scoring games as evidenced by the fact that while they enter the weekend 8^th, they’ve actually kicked 2 more goals than the unbeaten Tonners!

But OB’s ability to strangle opposition ball movement has been impressive and they’ll challenge St Bernards in this area – the Dogs will be doing everything in their power to open the game up on the wide expanses of their home turf.

Defence is St Bernards’ main challenge – they are last in the competition for Points Against (av.93) and given Old Brighton are #1 for Attack, being able to break through the Tonners’ defensive zone and play the game at their end for extended periods is going to be critical for the Snowdogs.

That’s easier said that done – just ask Old Scotch as they wore 71 midfield tackles, compared to the 29 they laid themselves last week. It seems like every time an opposition player won the football, he was surrounded by 3 willing OB tacklers.

St Bernards will be up for the fight at home. And they’ll need to be against the #1 Contested Possession, Ground Ball & Clearance team in the competition.

Can they become the first to knock over Old Brighton this season or will the Tonners continue on their merry way?

The final clash of Round 6 sees University Blacks host Old Xaverians at Melbourne Uni Oval.

Blacks are coming off an unexpected loss to Old Melburnians that dropped them to 2-4 and in danger of losing touch with the Top 4.

They surged late against OMs but never got close enough to generate the necessary panic to pull off a comeback win.

Sam Conway was dominant in the ruck (61 hit-outs) but Blacks lost the clearances, so Dale Bower and his coaching staff will have spent time working on capitalising on their big man’s dominance this week.

And they’ll need to, given Old Xavs are ranked #2 for Clearances and will be looking to control stoppages again, led by Sam Fisher who had an astonishing stat line of 28 disposals, 22 contested, 16 clearances last week!

Xavs get first hands on the footy and turn that into possession (also #2 Disposals), so Blacks will be determined to break up those chains with pressure (#1 Tackles) and aerial dominance (#1 Contested & Intercept Marking).

Old Xavs will be confident returning to Melbourne Uni for the second straight week after grinding out a gutsy win over the Blues. But Blacks will be particularly determined to bounce back and insert themselves back into the Top 4 picture.

It’s sixth versus seventh. One team will take a significant step forward, while the other will find themselves in the bottom 4.

Join the VAFA SEN MATCH OF THE DAY call team for our live coverage of OLD MELBURNIANS vs UNIVERSITY BLUES from 1.45pm Saturday on SEN.com.au & the SEN app.

Catch FITZROY vs COLLEGIANS live streaming on Kommunity TV from 11.35am (Reserves) into Seniors from 1.45pm Saturday.

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