William Buck Premier Men’s Round 9 Preview

With the King’s Birthday bye in the rear mirror, it’s time to get set for a fascinating Round 9 of VAFA William Buck Premier Men’s.

We kick off with a blockbuster clash between two fierce rivals as Old Xaverians host Old Scotch at Toorak Park.

Old Xavs are riding a wave of momentum generated by 3 straight wins over Blues, Blacks and St Bernards. These victories were built around the contest, with Xavs ranked #1 for Contested Possessions and #2 for Groundball Gets & Disposals this season.

This week, they come up against the #1 Disposals team – the Cardinals – who have been riding the rollercoaster for much of the season, beating the teams below them but falling short against the teams above them.

Both teams bat deep in the midfield and both love to possess the ball, but Old Xavs will be looking to take control via their inside game – #2 Clearances (vs #6 Old Scotch) & #4 Tackles (vs #8).

Both teams are great on the spread, so whoever wins the inside-to-outside battle here will go a long way to winning what promising to be a very revealing game.

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St Kevin’s are there and thereabouts as per usual and enter their home clash against University Blacks at TH King Oval in outright second spot courtesy of three consecutive nail-biting wins – 12pts over Fitzroy, 2pts over Old Scotch & then 2pts over the previously unbeaten Old Brighton last start.

It’s been an impressive display of late-game poise from a SKOB line-up littered with new faces – they are repeatedly hanging in games and finding ways to win.

“Our group is building great belief against the best opposition and how to manage those situations,” said coach Anthony Lynch.

Veteran SKOB ruck Will Coates is having a superb season and is giving his midfielders an avalanche of first-use around the stoppages. They smacked the Tonners on the inside in Round 8, dominating hit-outs and belting them in Clearances 60-36.

But Blacks pride themselves on their contest and are ranked #2 for Contested Possessions & #3 Groundball Gets (vs #5 & #7 for St Kevins).

Sam Conway will go toe-to-toe with Coates in the ruck, while Lachlan Knight is coming off a stellar performance against the Roys (33 disposals, 18 contested, 11 clearances, 9 tackles and a goal) and will been critical for Blacks once again.

St Kevins lead the competition in Inside 50s, but Blacks are #1 for Intercept Marks, so the pressure being applied to the SKOB midfielders (and the quality of their I50 entries as a result) could prove to be a key factor.

Dale Bower’s Blacks have largely flown under the radar this season. Their best football has looked good but they need to add consistency to their glimpses of brilliance and start claiming a few decent scalps if they are to make an assault on the Top 4.

Knocking off one of the premiership favourites would be the ideal start.

Catch ST KEVINS vs UNI BLACKS live streaming on Kommunity TV from 11.40am Saturday (Reserves) into the Seniors from 1.45pm.

It’s the league-leaders hosting the reigning premiers as Old Brighton and Collegians square off at Brighton Beach Oval.

Both teams will be keen to bounce back from a Round 8 loss – the Tonners fell in a thriller to SKOB, while Uni Blues comprehensively outplayed the Lions.

Old Brighton was out-pressured for the first time this season. Their ability to win clearances & generate Inside 50s while denying the opposition fluent ball movement have been the cornerstones of their success in 2024. They generally put speed on the ball and get it Inside 50 to one-on-ones, but SKOB smashed them on the inside and took control across half-back to counter OB’s efficiency up forward.

The Lions are known for their effective high-possession brand, but this was taken away from them by Blues last start and no doubt OB will be looking to replicate that effort. Can they retain possession on the outside and navigate their way through the Tonners’ watertight defensive zone often enough to kick a winning score?

Can they stay out of OB’s turnover trap? They conceded a whopping 11 Turnover Goals vs the Blues – that can’t happen again this week if the Lions are to have a decent shot at rolling the ladder-leaders.

The Tonners have won 4 of their last 5 over Collegians, including both games by 10 & 7 points last season, plus the Preliminary Final of 2022.

Will they extend that recent dominance or will the reigning champions make a statement and draw within a game of Old Brighton at the top of the table?

It’s been a baffling year for Old Melburnians, who can switch from dominant to uncompetitive and back again in the blink of an eye! Their lack of in-game consistency is certainly giving coach Paul Satterley restless nights.

This week OMs host St Bernard’s at Elsternwick Park and who knows what we’re going to get?

Will it be the OMs who were belted in the first half by Old Scotch last start? Or the OMs who came out of half-time breathing fire and slammed on 7 goals in a withering third-quarter burst that reinforced just how damaging they can be when they get the tails up?

Snowdogs coach Steve Alessio will be hoping for the former as his team look to snap a 5-game losing streak that belies how competitive they’ve actually been.

They haven’t won since their glorious Round 3 victory over St Kevins, but – like OMs – they’ve played some fantastic football in patches without quite being able to go hard enough for long enough to get the 4 points.

Interestingly, these are the Top 2 Centre Clearance teams in the competition (St Bernards #1) and if one team can get on top and generate fast takeaways through the front of the clearance, it may become a factor – particularly for OMs, given they average 5 Inside 50s per game less than the Snowdogs.

Who will protect the ball better? They are both in the Bottom 3 for Disposal Efficiency.

Expect OMs to keep working on the little things – they are #1 for One-Percenters, whereas St Bernards are last in that category (and last for Tackles vs OM’s #5).

Will all those little things ultimately add up to another OMs win? Or will St Bernards snap their losing streak?

The victor will kick a game clear of the relegation zone, so the stakes are high in this one!

The final clash of Round 9 sees the University Blues host Fitzroy at Melbourne Uni Oval.

The Blues could barely have been more impressive against Collegians last week, with star forward James Stewart putting the finishing touches on a great win with an all-time burst of 6 goals in 13 minutes blowing the game apart in the final quarter.

Stewart and Sam Grimley have combined for 57 goals so far this season (Stewart 33, Grimley 24) and the addition of the clever Eddie Ziebarth (4 goals vs OMs in Round 7) provides opposition defences with another headache Inside 50.

It comes down to supply for the Blues, who are ranked #9 Inside 50s (only Fitzroy have less), albeit they don’t get as many repeat Inside 50s due to their incredible efficiency. In the last quarter last week when Stewart was rampaging, they had 8 Inside 50s for 8 goals!

So the Roys will need to bring their usual pluck around the contest to try and restrict opportunities for Stewart, Grimley & Co.

They have found it difficult to win contested footy and therefore get control of territory. But they work extremely hard without the ball and are #3 Tackles.

They will need to be relentless with their heat for four quarters and create avenues to slingshot out of their back half via the likes of the League’s leading ball-getter, Nathan Ligris, if they are to pull off the upset.

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

Catch ST KEVINS vs UNIVERSITY BLACKS live streaming on Kommunity TV from 11.40am Saturday (Reserves) into the Seniors from 1.45pm.

Keep up-to-date with live scores and the latest news at VAFA.com.au