St Peter’s College ready for school footy season after wins against Melbourne and Ivanhoe grammar
They missed out on contesting last year’s All Schools Cup but St Peter’s First XVlll footy team has finetuned for 2021 with a win against two prestigious teams.
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It’s a centuries-old tradition and this year St Peter’s First XVIII football side has taken home the bragging rights.
The Hackney-based college has played against their counterparts at the prestigious Victorian school Melbourne Grammar since 1904.
But the coronavirus pandemic put a stop to the interstate rivalry match last year.
This year, however, with Australia seemingly in control in the battle against COVID-19 and borders reopening, St Peter’s and Melbourne Grammar were able to enjoy a strong pre-season hit out.
And it was one to remember with St Peter’s triumphing 19.11 (125) to 6.8 (44) at Melbourne Grammar.
The team then played against Ivanhoe Grammar and enjoyed another strong victory.
Morgan Ferres, the college’s captain of football, said it was the perfect way to prepare for this season’s Sports Association Adelaide Schools (SAAS) 2021 Football Premiership season, which is set to kick off on May 8.
“It was really good to get away with the team and get a bit of confidence in,” Ferres said.
“It really brought the team closer together as a tight group.
“It was a great competition over in Melbourne and hopefully we can bring that type of footy back to Adelaide this year.
“We stayed with students and their families over in Melbourne for the weekend and I think meeting a few new people was the main takeaway from the trip and I’m sure we’ll all keep in contact for a long time now as we built some great relationships over there.”
St Peter’s ended the shortened 2020 school footy campaign third on percentage and just missed a chance to battle Henley in the All Schools Cup semi-final.
Ferres, who is in Year 12, says his side his keen to go one better this year.
“We come into our regular season back here with a lot of confidence,” Ferres said.
“We’ve proved we can play against the higher teams in Melbourne and if we bring that playing style back I’m sure we can go a long way and win most of our games.
“Playing in the All Schools Cup was a goal for us last year and is a goal for us again this year.
“We like to move the ball fast, we like to play exciting and it’s our goal to win everything this year, including intercol and the state knock out as well.”
St Peter’s coach Sam Elliott was proud of his players and was looking forward to the 2021 SAAS campaign starting.
“It’s a great tradition (playing Melbourne Grammar) and the boys love it,” Elliott said.
“We’ve had a really good pre-season and the boys are ready to go.
“(Our goal) is just to continually improve.
“We are on the right track and the boys have bought into that which is great.
“Our focus is really to create good young men and then the football is very much secondary to that.
“They are doing a great job in that space and their footy is beginning to shine through which is great.”
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