Round 12 William Buck Premier Men’s Preview

With players refreshed and returning after the double-bye, the race for September starts to pick up speed in Round 12 of VAFA William Buck Premier Men’s.

Old Brighton have been the pacesetters all season and their senior group has committed to sticking together through the winter rather than heading overseas for the European summer holiday that derailed their 2023 campaign.

This week they look to pick up where they left off when they host Old Melburnians at Brighton Beach Oval.

While the Tonners are fighting to maintain their one-game lead at the top of the table, OMs are fighting to jump up out of the drop zone in the race to avoid relegation. They enter Round 12 tied with St Bernard’s & Uni Blacks on 3 wins, but narrowly behind on percentage.

They’ve proven to be more than a handful in patches this season, with their most complete performances against Collegians in Round 1 and St Bernard’s in Round 9. But that 50-point win over the Snowdogs was followed by a couple of heavy losses, so the bye may have come at a good time for Paul Satterley’s men.

Can they reset and rediscover their best form to challenge the Old Brighton juggernaut or will the Tonners roll on?

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Four consecutive wins have seen Old Scotch rise above the chasing pack to take hold of third spot, a game clear of Old Xavs, Collegians and Uni Blues.

After some inaccurate kicking cost them a couple of early wins, the Cardinals have barely put a foot wrong, with their only losses in the past 7 starts coming against the Top 2 teams – and one of those was a 2-point thriller against SKOBs which proved Old Scotch are capable of hanging with the big dogs.

This week they host the unpredictable St Bernard’s, who needed the double bye as much as anyone after being cruelled by a mass of injuries that threatened to derail their campaign.

The Snowdogs may be in both the finals AND relegation races right now, although the latter seems more probable. However, if they can get close to full strength and string together some form, they’ve proven capable of serving it up to anyone on their day, which makes this a potential danger game for Old Scotch.

It’s impossible to know what to expect from St Bernard’s here. The Cardinals best be prepared for anything.

Old Xaverians jumped over Collegians and Uni Blues into the Top 4 after their big win over OMs last start and now they’ll be looking to consolidate that position when they host Fitzroy at Toorak Park.

Xavs have ridden the rollercoaster in 2024, so the next step for Dan Donati’s team is to find the consistency required to qualify for September.

When these two teams met in Round 3, Xavs put the game to bed early to lead by 47 points at half time, before the Roys finished strong to reduce the final margin to just 17 points.

But Fitzroy have improved with the extra 9 weeks of Premier Men’s experience and will have enjoyed their break after rolling the Snowdogs in their last start, keeping their hopes of remaining in Premier Men’s alive.

Will Xavs bank another precious 4 premiership points or can the refreshed Royboys pull off their biggest win of the season and add another twist to the race to avoid relegation?

To absolutely no-one’s surprise, perennial contenders St Kevin’s are in the premiership mix once again.

They surgically dissected reigning premiers Collegians last start at St Kevin’s – their sixth consecutive victory arguably their most impressive as they seized control of the wounded Lions from the outset and put them away in the wet.

This week they host University Blues at TH King Oval in a potential danger game for SKOB.

The Blues have shown glimpses of brilliance this season but it has been blunted at times by injury and unavailability of key players.

The difference between Uni Blues’ best and worst is more than any other team in the competition, so opponents can only hope to face the Blues at the right time.

Will that be this week? Do they get some key faces back that can elevate this group back up into the Top 4?

They will need all the help they can get against the St Kevin’s juggernaut that has put a two-game gap into Old Scotch and remain within a game of the Tonners at the top.

But should the Blues fire? Well, anything is possible…

The final clash of Round 12 sees University Blacks host Collegians at Melbourne Uni Oval on Sunday.

Blacks are coming off three straight losses to the top 3 teams, but their most recent performance against Old Scotch showed signs of growth after they led the Cardinals at three-quarter time before falling 15 points short.

It provided a timely reminder of Blacks’ ability to thrive in a defensive scrap and of the four teams currently in the relegation race, they are clearly the best defensive group. However, they are also clearly the worst offensive group and that is their challenge – how do they open the game up to create more scoring opportunities without getting away from what they’re best at?

Opening the game up is particularly risky against Collegians, who thrive on high possession.

In fact, controlling the football is the key to the Lions’ success. If they rack up uncontested possessions, they win games. However, the rest of the competition is aware of it and has been successfully closing them down; the Lions hitting the bye having lost 3 of their last 4 (to the Top 2 plus Uni Blues).

This week they’re up against the #1 Tackling team in the competition who will also be hellbent on disrupting those possession chains.

Their Round 5 clash was a 10-point thriller after the Lions had led by 5 goals at half-time before Blacks fought back in the second half.

This promises to be another fascinating tactical battle between two teams desperate for the win.

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

Catch our PREMIER WOMEN’S double-header between WEST BRUNSWICK & MONASH BLUES live streaming on Kommunity TV from 11.40am Saturday (Reserves) into the Seniors from 2pm.

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