Bloods bested by dominant De La

De La Salle dealt Old Haileybury its first loss since April thanks to a stunning eight-goals-to-none second quarter, setting up a chaotic finish to the 2024 Premier B season.

Back when the sides last met in Round 5, the Bloods blew the game open in the third term, establishing a 40-point three quarter time advantage and holding off a fast-finish De La Salle outfit which, despite kicking seven goals in the final term, fell short by seven points.

This time around, it was Nick Hyland’s unit that made a stunning break – piling on 8.4 (52) to 0.2 (2) after being held goalless in the first term, the likes of Patrick Bohan and Ryan O’Meara busy.

Considering the quarter-by-quarter scores, you could be forgiven for imagining very windy conditions in Caulfield South – but De La coach Nick Hyland confirmed there was only a “slight breeze” at the backs of his players as they rocketed to a 37-point half time advantage.

“(I was) disappointed with that second quarter – we probably lost our discipline a little bit, that’s something we need to address,” said Old Haileybury coach Daniel Ward.

“We didn’t hold up as well as I would’ve liked, and there were some honest conversations at half time.”

20-year-old De La tall Nathan Scollo made the move to the forward line in the earlier passages of the season, having played most of last year as a defender – but resumed his post in Hyland’s backline in Round 13 against Old Trinity and excelled again last weekend.

And while Scollo’s intercept game in the first half drew the approving eye of Hyland, Ward was critical of his side’s entries inside fifty.

“He looked like Darcy Moore in the first quarter, the way we were kicking the ball,” Ward said.

Needing a second half response, the Old Haileyburians found one, piling on five goals in the first 16 minutes of the third quarter to bring the margin back to one straight kick, dynamic forward Andreas Stefanakis as lively as ever.

“We know how dangerous (Stefanakis) is…that’s the first time I’ve got to see him live,” said Hyland.

“We had matchups for him, we planned for him, but credit to him, he’s a high-quality player…he’ll play plenty of VFL for years to come.”

Holding a seven-point advantage at the final break and kicking to the scoring end, De La found top gear again, booting four goals to two (both via Stefanakis, who finished with five majors) in the final quarter to win 14.9 (93) to 10.7 (67).

“Our last six weeks, we knew we were going to be in for a tough end to the season,” said Hyland.

“But if you want to play finals, you have to beat these teams.”

O’Meara and Adrian Indovino kicked three goals apiece, Bohan and Tom Stanton kicked two, and De La Salle are now just two points behind Old Haileybury on the ladder.

They’ve got Old Ivanhoe, Old Camberwell, St Bedes / Mentone and Old Geelong ahead in what’s been a tight and unpredictable season – but Hyland’s unit, to dredge up a footballing cliche, will be taking it one week at a time.

“We’re not going to get ahead of ourselves – we’ve been really good at resetting and refocusing,” he said.

For Old Haileybury, it’s Caulfield, Old Geelong, Old Camberwell and Old Ivanhoe on the way home, the Bloods’ nine-round stranglehold on top spot facing its first legitimate threat since June.

“Full credit to De La Salle, they’re worthy competition for later in the year,” Ward said.

“Definitely no panicking in our group – it’s more there’s some things that we can fix up.”

At the other end of the ladder, Williamstown CYMS has set itself up for a crucial last month as it hopes to avoid relegation, fending off the Caulfield Grammarians at Fearon Reserve.

The CYs produced their best first half of the season, punting 9.7 (61) from 31 entries inside fifty, taking 10 marks inside the attacking arc and finding dangerous targets in Zayne Galea, Will Smyth and Zac Provest.

“We started really well – our ball movement was the best it was all year,” said coach Con Terzoglou.

“I felt like we were controlling the play. We were getting more inside 50s and our forwards were doing a magnificent job.”

“Between Galea, Smyth, Provest, (Will) Bokma, all of sudden you’ve got four forwards who had one quarter each…we had an even contribution, we were a little multi-pronged up forward.”

Leading by three goals at three quarter time, the CYs looked well and truly on track to secure their third win of the season – but that was when their momentum was abruptly arrested by Caulfield.

Guy McKenna’s men careered back into the contest with 10 scoring shots in the final term – unfortunately though, just one of those were goals.

“We gave ourselves a chance to win, and we just couldn’t take it,” said McKenna.

“To be honest, we probably didn’t stop them,” said Terzoglou, “they just ran out of time.”

While three of the nine behinds in the quarter were rushed, McKenna noted “three or four shots that the boys would normally nail,” chalking the eventual 13.10 (88) to 11.13 (79) loss up as a “learning curve of a side developing the right way”.

Caulfield skipper Joe McClelland, playing his 100th game, was forced out of the match in the second term after a nasty blow to the head in a marking contest that stopped play and required an ambulance to be called.

He suffered a gash to the head, but McKenna believes McClelland avoided a concussion in the incident.

Jordan Busuttil was enormous for the yellow and blue, racking up 35 disposals, 11 inside 50s, a remarkable 18 clearances, 24 contested possessions and a goal.

The CYs are now just two points adrift of Caulfield, needing at least one more win to escape relegation with Beaumaris, Old Ivanhoe, Old Trinity and St Bedes/Mentone ahead.

They’re in good shape to secure that win too, having in Round 13 drawn with Old Haileybury to add with last weekend’s win over Caulfield.

“The message postgame was right now, everything is in our hands,” Terzoglou said.

“If we can continue this momentum, we will get ourselves out (of the relegation zone) and some.”

Beaumaris, the CYs’ next target, gave Jarrod Gieschen’s Old Ivanhoe plenty to worry about in the first three quarters, but were ultimately unable to go with the Hoers in the last quarter.

Trailing by just three points at the final turn, the Sharks appeared well positioned to give themselves a chance at just their second win since Round 8, but with two players out of the game with injury fell short in a 12.9 (81) to 6.13 (49) defeat.

Beaumaris outperformed Old Ivanhoe in the contested possessions, clearances and inside 50s metrics to the three quarter time break, but the likes of Toby McLean, Ollie Hayes-Brown, Archie Franklin and Max Whiteman lifted the Hoers to a dominant set of fourth quarter numbers: +48 disposals, +18 marks, +13 inside 50 and +8 clearances to go with a six-goals-to-one final term.

The 19-year-old Franklin, who played with the Northern Knights in 2022 and 2023, enjoyed a remarkable outing across half back of 44 disposals, 13 intercepts, 11 rebound 50s, 10 inside 50s and a whopping 202 ranking points according to Premier Data.

Franklin, who made his way to half back in Round 13 against St Bedes/Mentone, has clocked up 80 disposals in two weeks – on the year, he averages 23.5 disposals per game.

Gieschen’s men were able to celebrate the 100th game of Jackson Powell, who saluted the occasion with a speccy, while three Ivanhoe Grammar students took to Chelsworth Park alongside their school footy coach Toby McLean – instrumental with 38 disposals and seven clearances.

For Beaumaris coach Josh Bourke, it was another chance to develop his younger players in what’s been a difficult year for the Sharks in terms of injury and availability.

“We see the positives in the year: we’ve got some considerable senior experience into (younger players),” he said.

That positive was plain to see last weekend, as Sandringham Dragons-listed 200cm forward Luka Pecer booted three goals from 12 disposals in just his third senior game for the Sharks, while fellow Dragon, 17-year-old Ben Seers, was impressive in his second senior game.

“We’re proud of the effort…(but) effort’s not enough, we’ve got to get results.”

The Sharks will host the CYs next week at Banksia Reserve while the Hoers have a crucial clash with De La Salle ahead – Old Ivanhoe sit fifth, just 2.21% behind Old Geelong in the finals-playing fourth spot.

“It’s an opportunity for us to really work out where we sit against the best team in the comp,” Giechen said.

Old Trinity’s charmed run on the road continued in a crucial win over Old Geelong, the Ts now 6-1 in away games yet 3-4 on home turf.

Without coach Donald McDonald, who was watching at Marvel Stadium as his son Luke played his 200th AFL game in a Kangaroos victory, the Ts established an early 18-point advantage with three first-quarter goals from Dom Payman.

Hugh Beasley snapped up two goals before half time as well, the Ts taking a 26-point advantage into the long break, and from then on holding the OGs at least 16 points clear in a 12.8 (80) to 8.9 (57) win.

Payman finished with five goals while Oliver Scott was dominant in tight with 30 disposals, 21 contested possessions and six clearances.

Nathan Brown’s five-game winning streak has come to an end, but his side will be determined to tighten its grip on fourth spot next week with a visit to Brindisi Street and St Bede’s / Mentone.

“We’ve just got to keep preparing well – it’s held us in good stead, getting our preparation right (and) our training attendance right,” Brown said.

Old Trinity is 8.29% clear of Old Trinity in a four-club race for third spot, with McDonald acutely aware of how precarious his team’s place in the four is.

After a six-win 2023 season, the prospect of finals football this year is an impressive one for the Ts.

“The first nine games, we just wanted to get ourselves into the position where we could compete,” explained McDonald.

Then came a tricky last month – the Bloods, the Hoers, De La and the OGs – which Old Trinity has split 2-2, with the Wellers, Caulfield, the CYs and the Sharks to come.

“We’ve just got to be really solid and consistent – that’s something that’s been pleasing, we’re learning from some of our losses,” McDonald said.

Finally, Old Camberwell ensured it can’t be counted out of finals calculations by accounting for St Bedes/Mentone thanks to a dynamite first quarter.

The Wellers kept the Tigers to two behinds while piling on 7.2 (44) to the first break, with Ben Hart, Rob West and Jack Spalding the destroyers.

Frustratingly for Tigers coach Brad Berry, all of the Old Camberwell goals came directly from turnovers, resulting in a “fair shot in the arm” at the quarter time huddle for his group.

But without Jack Behnk, Josh Cowan and Pat Tyquin the Tigers held fast, preventing what could’ve been a percentage-enhancing victory for the Wellers, unable to close the margin to a gettable figure but stemming the flow of Wellers goals in the 14.11 (95) to 7.10 (52) defeat.

“We can’t afford to drop one (quarter),” said Wellers coach Anson Brownless.

“Seven goals is great, but we sort of dropped off for a couple of quarters…you can’t drop a quarter against the top four.”

Hart, the Premier C League Best & Fairest back in 2017, has played most of this year at half back but returned to the midfield to fill in for the suspended Harrison Veitch with 33 disposals, nine marks and seven score involvements.

“(It’s) like he’s played there all year, to be honest. He was best (on ground) I felt,” Brownless said.

While Kyah Farris-White (19 disposals, 11 clearances, 43 hitouts) dominated the ruck, the Wellers midfield were excellent early in roving the Melbourne Category B rookie’s tapwork, an adjustment made around the ball helping the Tigers to a +11 clearance advantage after the first break – but the scoreboard damage was largely done.

“The way that we allowed them to play, any team will play like that,” said Brad Berry, noting his team was “staring down the barrel of a 150-point defeat” at quarter time.

“I gave them a compliment for digging back in for the last three quarters the way they did.”

Jack Ferraro was one of those Tigers who responded well after the first term, joined by a young midfield group consisting of Jake Harding, Darcy Fountain, Jake Ryder and Xavier Russo.

The Wellers, sixth on the ladder, less than 6 percent removed from a finals spot, have a crucial clash with Old Trinity this weekend at Daley Oval, while St Bedes/Mentone host the OGs.

Remarkably, six points separate first to sixth, the race is wide open.