Cardinals leap into Top 4 in William Buck Premier Men’s

Back-to-back wins on either side of the bye have seen the Cards jump back up into the Top 4 of William Buck Premier Men’s after Round 9.

A powerful second half saw Old Scotch overwhelm Old Xaverians at Toorak Park.

Only 3 points separated the teams at the first two breaks with the Cardinals narrowly in front at the half despite Old Xavs stifling Old Scotch’s ball movement and having the better of general play.

But Old Scotch tidied up their ball use in the third term and put Old Xavs to the sword, booting 4 of the 5 goals to lead by 21 points at the final break.

When they added the opening 3 goals of the last quarter, they’d kicked 8 of the last 9 goals to open a commanding 42-point lead.

Old Xavs kicked 2 late majors but the damage was done – Old Scotch leaping back up into the Top 4 with an impressive 38-point win.

Mark Gnatt (Old Scotch): “After a tight first half, the coaching team was really pleased with the boys’ response after half-time. Our intensity and pressure on Xavs created a number of repeat F50 entries and subsequent scoreboard pressure.

“We had +20 forward entries in the second half. Our small forwards – Goodison, Thomson, Symons and Henry Brown all stood up this week and their pressure on the Xavs defence was outstanding with 22 tackles in our F50.”

Dan Donati (Old Xavs): “Super competitive and high standard first half from both teams. I certainly felt we had our chances in the first half to be a couple in front, but that’s football.

“Scotch played great footy in the second half, owned the territory game and in the end deserved a good win.

“We’re doing plenty right at the contest, but probably a bit too much wrong in big moments in other areas of the ground. We’re a young and developing team, and I’ve got no doubt improvement will continue.”

The Brighton Beach Oval showdown between the league-leaders and reigning premiers lived up to expectations as Old Brighton & Collegians played out a 2-point thriller.

There was very little between the teams all afternoon in a game of swinging momentum after the Tonners booted the opening 2 goals, followed by 4 in a row by the Lions to take a 2-goal lead that was hauled back in by quarter time.

The largest margin was 19 points early in the third term after Collegians flew the gates with 3 goals in 5 minutes to begin the second half. But the Tonners stabilised and responded with the next 3 to edge in front by 3 points at the last change.

The Lions got back out to a 10-point lead midway through the last and still led by a couple of points at the 24-minute mark before 200-gamer Mike Karayannis found Jamie Hope to put the Tonners back in front.

The ladder-leaders then had to see off a couple of late Collegians forays to hang on in a fantastic contest that could have gone either way. Old Brighton remain a game clear on top while the Lions slide from third to fifth.

Marcel Bruin (Old Brighton): “Really gritty win and a tremendous way to honour and celebrate a club legend playing his 200th game. Really pleased to hang on with Collegians pressing and having the last few shots on goal.

“Sammy Flockhart was really influential as was vice-captain Tom Fisher, both thriving under immense Collegians pressure.”

Jordie McKenzie (Collegians): “Our boys brought great intent and pressure and generated some very good opportunities. We had ourselves in a strong position but were unable to hold on. Credit to Brighton, they gained ascendency by dominating contested footy in the last quarter.

“Our boys kept trying to the very end, but ultimately fell short. We’ll take some great learnings from the game.

“The on-ball brigade of Ong, Watson, Boucher and Mayhood were super. Beilby and Davy also continued their great seasons down back.”

St Kevin’s powered away from University Blacks in the second half to register their fourth straight win.

Blacks led by a kick after an inaccurate opening term that saw the teams combine for 3.12 at TH King Oval, before SKOB booted 4 of the 5 second-quarter goals to hold a 13-point lead at the major break.

The perennial contenders then took control in the second half, booting 9 goals to 3 and securing a percentage-boosting 53-point win – their largest victory of 2024.

Patrick Kerr & Sam Tucker continued their fine form up forward, finishing with 3 goals apiece as last season’s runners-up made an emphatic statement and strengthened their grip on second spot, while Blacks remain 2 games outside the Top 4 with a season-defining 3 weeks to come against Old Brighton, Old Scotch and Collegians.

Anthony Lynch (St Kevin’s): “I was really pleased to see our group put in such a professional performance. The most pleasing aspect for me was our offence and ball movement.

“We have a big 2 weeks ahead with Xavs and Collegians before the double bye so we are excited to attack the next fortnight.”

Dale Bower (Uni Blacks): “We were in the game early, but couldn’t maintain our pressure around the ball or our ability to win contest and could not hold up St.Kevin’s ball movement.

“We tried hard all day but we couldn’t take advantage of our opportunities in offense.”

Old Melburnians continued their rollercoaster season, storming back onto the winner’s list with a critical 50-point win over St Bernard’s at Elsternwick Park.

The Snowdogs had the better of the opening term, booting 5 straight goals to lead by 10 points at the first break. OMs responded with 4 goals to 2 in the second quarter to edge their nose in front by a couple of points at half-time in what appeared to be shaping as a tight contest.

But once again we saw OMs unleash a barrage from nowhere – 5.2 to 0.2 in a dominant third term, followed by 4 goals to 1 in the final quarter – and what felt like a even clash blew out to an impressive 50-point victory that elevates Old Melburnians a game clear of St Bernard’s out of the drop zone.

Sam Laube and Ed Michelmore continued their good form with 3 goals apiece, while Edyn Sibbald was the Snowdogs’ focal point up forward, finishing with his second 4-goal haul of the season.

A great confidence booster for OMs who enter a challenging month with Collegians, Old Xavs, Old Brighton and St Kevin’s in their immediate future, while St Bernard’s will return home to face Uni Blues as they look to snap the 6-game losing streak that has left the early excitement of the season squarely in the rear-view mirror.

Paul Satterley (OMs): “Very pleased to see our lads get the result after persisting for the full 4 quarters. A couple of our key leaders in Will Nichols & Ed Michelmore led from the front and all 22 contributed. St Bernard’s always looked threatening so a solid win for our club.”

Steve Alessio (St Bernards): “After an encouraging first half where we used the ball well and were probably at our most efficient in front of goal for the season, it was disappointing we weren’t able to sustain that effort.

“We continue to look for our most consistent line up and have opportunities due to injuries for players who want to grab them.”

“The loss now means we are chasing the teams ahead of us and we must approach each game in this 2nd half of the season with a professional and resilient mindset.”

The final match of the round saw University Blues eventually see off a plucky Fitzroy at Melbourne Uni Oval.

The Blues led by 2 points at the first change before the game opened up in the second term as the visitors started to get on top, booting 4 consecutive goals to open up a 16-point lead before the Blues responded with 4 in 7.5 minutes to regain the advantage and lead by 17 points at the half.

But the Roys wouldn’t go away, adding 3 goals to 1 in the third term to close within 5 points at the last break.

They had their chances in the last but couldn’t find the middle – Fitzroy kicking 0.4 to Blues’ 3.0 as the hosts racked up their third straight win and jumped up to third on the ladder. Sam Grimley the standout with 6 goals to close within 4 of team-mate James Stewart at the top of the goalkicking table.

Guy Martyn (Uni Blues): “I thought we showed a lot of grit throughout the game to get a hard-fought win.

“Losing two players in the first 10 minutes put us on the back foot a little and then after Fitzroy kicked four unanswered goals in the second quarter to go to a 15-point lead, things could’ve gone bad.

“We were really impressed with the way Fitzroy attacked from their back half. They got a lot of numbers back making it tough for us to score, then would slingshot forward at pace. I’d be very surprised if they didn’t get a few wins in the second half of the season.”

Travis Ronaldson (Fitzroy): “Really proud of our performance. We had a red-hot crack and gave ourselves a chance to win – we just didn’t convert our opportunities early in the last quarter.

“Charlie Faubel was lively up forward while Tom Holmes was strong in defence and continues to improve each week.”