Top two teams locked in with a Round to go in Premier B

Wins for each of the top four sides has seen the Premier B top two locked in – but the race for the minor Premiership will come down to the final weekend of the home and away season.

The top four teams are nearly set with one more round of football to play: top-of-the-table Old Haileybury (54 points) and second-placed De La Salle (52) are out of reach of third-placed Old Trinity (46 points), while Old Geelong (44 points) are a game and 8.8% clear in fourth from Old Ivanhoe (40 points) in fifth.

Old Camberwell (38 points) needed to either beat Old Haileybury or have other results fall its way to remain in the finals hunt in Round 17, but a 45-point loss at the hands of the Bloods, combined with the OGs’ defeat of Beaumaris, has ended its finals hopes.

The Wellers started brightly at Gordon Barnard Reserve, leading the Bloods into half time by five points in blustery conditions, focusing on keeping the ball off the talented Old Haileyburians, who despite the aid of the breeze in the first quarter were unable to take advantage, kicking 2.3 (15) to Old Camberwell’s 3.0 (18).

“We spoke about the start – we had to put some pressure on them early,” said Wellers coach Anson Brownless.

“We thought we did that, we had control of the ball. That was very promising, but we couldn’t maintain it – they just broke us down.”

“I was disappointed in how we played in that first quarter,” said Bloods coach Daniel Ward.

“Old Camberwell were quite good at shutting us down, and scoring into the wind…the last three quarters looked how we wanted it to look.”

The Bloods didn’t kick a goal from the 14-minute mark of the first term to the 19-minute mark of the third, but in a 12-minute period of football capitalised on the wind and their momentum, turning a seven-point deficit into a 24-point lead to end the third quarter.

James Magner and Brede Seccull booted two majors apiece in that run of five quick goals, while Lachie Vaughan, a key part of the Bloods’ forward structure, added the other six-pointer.

“Once they’re up and running it’s hard to stop them,” Brownless said.

“A side like that, you can see them coming.”

From that point, the Bloods were able to hold the Wellers at bay, kicking six goals to two in the final term for an eventual 13.16 (94) to 7.7 (49) victory.

Isolating James Magner (four goals) worked well for Ward, while the combination of Brede Seccull, Hugo Nosiara, Josh Gasparini and Luke Bailey in the midfield looms as a frightful challenge in the finals.

Durras Seccull continued his run of good form in defence, and proved “instrumental” when the Wellers had the wind.

“I don’t want to look too far ahead, but I imagine (the backline) is where we’ll see Durras playing in the big games coming up,” Ward said.

A match with Old Ivanhoe rounds out the season for the Bloods – and Jarrod Gieschen’s Hoers will need to win, win well, and hope Old Geelong loses if it wishes to play finals.

The challenge of playing back-to-back teams needing to win to remain in the finals race has been the perfect tune-up for Old Haileybury’s postseason campaign.

“We’ve been battling to get our best form – that culminated (in Round 16) v Old Geelong,” Ward said.

“It’s great preparation for us…we won’t be taking our foot off the pedal.”

For Anson Brownless, it’s Caulfield Grammarians to round out season 2024, and an opportunity to win a tenth game in his side’s first year in Premier B since 2009.

“I’m a big believer in finishing the year well, because it carries over for your pre-season,” Brownless said.

“We’ll be going 100 miles an hour.”

Regardless of results this weekend, De La Salle will meet Old Haileybury in the 1v2 Semi Final, sewing up a top-two spot with a 24.14 (158) to 6.16 (52) defeat over St Bedes/Mentone Tigers in East Malvern.

“It was a bit of relief, knowing that we’ve secured what we set out to do before the season,” siad coach Nick Hyland.

“It’s pretty exciting. I can’t remember the last time a De La team was in this position, securing a position in the top two with a game to go.”

Despite kicking into the wind in the first term, De La’s start was ominous, a six-goal-to-three quarter setting the tone for the afternoon.

“From a defensive point of view, and a stoppage and structure point of view, we played really well (in the first quarter),” Hyland said.

From there, De La cashed in, kicking ten goals in the second term to crack the ton by half time, from there cruising to a 106-point victory.

De La’s spread of high-performers has been the narrative for Hyland’s squad, and that was the case on Saturday with 13 individual goalkickers – but Christian Algeri’s name, fresh off a VFL debut for Collingwood, explodes nevertheless from the scoresheet with 39 disposals, 15 score involvements and five goals.

“He’s been ultra-consistent all year, and he finally got rewarded last week with a VFL game. In our eyes, it’s well overdue – he’s been playing VFL-level footy all year,” Hyland said.

“He’s a classy player, and we think he’s got many years of high-level footy ahead of him.”

Jack Ferraro (27 disposals, 2 goals), Jack Behnk (23 disposals, 2 goals) and Max Hoult continued their good form for the Tigers.

Old Trinity sealed a place in finals for the club’s first postseason campaign since 2018, overcoming an in-form Williamstown CYMS in an entertaining contest at Fearon Reserve.

In a game affected by a strong breeze, the Ts managed eight goals into the wind as compared to the CYs’ two over the course of the game, which proved to be the difference.

Even with a 27-point lead at three quarter time, Donald McDonald’s squad would not have felt safe with the wind at the backs of the CYs, but matched six Williamstown goals with five of their own to win 18.12 (120) to 15.7 (97).

“That was a tough game,” said McDoanld.

“They’re playing as good as footy as anyone, their footy stacked up a treat.”

Ts key forwards Dom Payman (four goals) and Hugh Beasley (three) proved difficult to combat while Hugo McGlashan (36 disposals) and Christos Manoussakis (34 disposals) continued their consistent seasons through the midfield.

With the win, and with the Wellers’ defeat, Old Trinity cannot miss finals, and will either play Old Geelong or Old Ivanhoe in the 3v4 Semi Final in a fortnight’s time.

“The fact that we’ve qualified for finals, it’s a good thing for the club to reflect on,” McDonald said.

“I think sometimes you’ve got to pause and go, ‘you know what, it’s a bloody good achievement for the club.’ I think everyone at our footy club should be very proud, especially after where we were.”

The Ts’ backline of Jimmy Ingpen, George Belcher, Sam Phillips and Ben Littlefield held up strongly against a dynamic CYs forward line consisting of Harry Miller (four goals) Will Bokma, Zac Provest, Zayne Galea and Will Smyth.

Miller, a 19-year-old small forward who is a train-on player at Werribee VFL, has now kicked 11 goals in his last three weeks of senior football.

Coach Con Terzoglou was impressed by his side’s ability to score 13 or more goals for the fourth consecutive week – but it was the Ts who were too often able to respond.

“Against a side like Trinity who are seasoned and gearing for a finals campaign, you absolutely cannot concede eighteen goals,” he said.

“That was the difference. They found a way to get one when we were coming at them.”

The CYs are safe from relegation, six points clear of ninth-placed Caulfield Grammarians, but are intent on finishing 2024 strongly.

“At the King’s Birthday break, I said we’d need six weeks to stay up. We’ve actually had five,” said Terzoglou.

“Irrespective of the fact that it’s done, we’d like to complete the plan that we set up in June. We made a promise that we’re going to make an effort to do this…if we went in with a blase attitude this week, that goes against what we’ve set out to do.”

Old Geelong shored up its place in fourth position by defeating Beaumaris, capably responding to a heavy Round 16 loss to Old Haileybury with a ten-goal-to-two first half on its way to a 15.12 (102) to 6.14 (50) victory

The equation for the OGs is simple – win against De La Salle, and they’re in, with a game and percentage advantage on Old Ivanhoe.

Spearhead Matt Wallis has been a great story for the OGs this year – hailing from country South Australia, Wallis joined the OGs during the season and has been super, booting 26 goals in 12 games.

“He’s a terrific fella who was just looking for a footy club (after moving to Melbourne),” Brown said of Wallis, who recorded his season-high tally of goals for the OGs with five.

“He’s embraced it all.”

For Beaumaris coach Josh Bourke, the position of the side is “frustrating,” the Sharks one game clear of Caulfield in ninth, but not assured of their safety from relegation.

“We thought we had enough talent to at least make the game a bit closer than it played out – it was a pretty frustrating result for us,” he said.

“We certainly identified about two months ago that it was about trying to solidify for 2025, especially with the influence around where we are with clubs that pay.

“We made a real effort to tie down our list and get them passionate and engaged.”

The story this year for the Sharks has been the sheer amount of younger players pushed through the side, as required by the critical mass of injured or unavailable players.

One such young player is Charlie Wilce, an Anytime Fitness Rising Star nominee, who while still a teenager has become a “Mr Fix-it” player for Beaumaris.

“What impresses me most is his rate of improvement…he’s getting better by the minute,” Bourke said.

“After another couple of seasons, he’ll end up moving into the midfield as a big-bodied midfielder.”

Meanwhile at Como Park the vibes are high, with the OGs’ Premier B Women’s side playing off this weekend in a Grand Final against Fitzroy – but Brown, as he has been all year, is intent on his side’s preparation.

“Head down, keep preparing well. We’ve been pretty consistent with that all year. Nothing changes in that space.”

Old Ivanhoe’s finals hopes are still alive after a 29-point defeat of Caulfield Grammarians, with Jarrod Gieschen’s side needing to beat Old Haileybury this weekend, hope De La Salle defeat Old Geelong, and make up the 8.8% gap to the OGs to play finals.

The equation to escape relegation is similar for the Grammarians: beat Old Camberwell, and hope Old Trinity defeat Beaumaris by enough points to bridge the current 3.7% gap between the ninth-placed Fielders and the eighth-placed Sharks

It wasn’t smooth sailing for Old Ivanhoe – Guy McKenna’s side booting five goals to two in the third quarter to close in to within 12 points at the final break at Chelsworth Park.

But two goals apiece from Billy Murphy and Luke Scuderi in the final quarter helped the Hoers establish a 23-point buffer by the 12-and-a-half minute mark of the final quarter, effectively ending the contest.

“We knew what was up for grabs for them, we were prepared that they were going to come at us pretty hard,” said Old Ivanhoe coach Jarrod Gieschen of the 16.10 (106) to 11.11 (77) win.

Dynamic midfielder Murphy started forward with illness and was brilliant, booting five goals, combining nicely with Scuderi who kicked four.

Young Archie Franklin was once again on fire, shifting from defence to midfield on his way to 43 disposals, while Toby McLean racked up 37 touches in the tenth win of Old Ivanhoe’s season.

“Coming up a grade and (winning ten games) with the personnel issues we’ve had through the year, it’s a decent result,” said Gieschen.

While McKenna couldn’t fault his team’s effort and endeavour, he was left disappointed by the Fielders’ inability to execute with ball in hand.

“Our ability to compete and win the ball was fantastic – at times, we just turned the ball over, we had some bad ones in the midfield and down back,” he said.

“We just murdered the ball going forward…we found it, we just couldn’t hit targets.”

The Fielders haven’t won a game since Round 5, but with an improved performance against Old Ivanhoe as compared to that against Old Trinity in Round 16, Guy McKenna’s team will give itself every chance of escaping relegation this weekend against the Wellers.

“We’ve got a pulse, and we’re looking forward to taking on Old Camberwell,” he said.

“Our destiny is in our own hands.”