Harford: St Kevins taught a lesson in defence and discipline

ST Kevins had a surprise loss, but De La Salle eked out a one-point victory over St Bernards in VAFA Premier Division action.

St Kevins Phil Edgar takes a diving mark.

St Kevin’s found itself more than just a step or two behind in Saturday’s Premier B surprise loss to Mazenod on its home deck at King Oval.

Coming into the Round 8 clash at 2-5, visiting Mazenod led the top four contender from start to finish, running away with a 27-point win after breaking out to a nine-goal lead coming into the main break.

By three-quarter time St Kevin’s managed to peg the deficit back to 44 but the damage was already done, according to coach Daniel Harford.

“We were outplayed from the get-go,” Harford said.

“We were taught a lesson in hard work and defence and discipline, and we didn’t have much to hang our hat on in the first half.

“We kicked a few goals late in the game but the game was done, so I don’t hold too much weight with those late goals.”

Of the few positives to come out of the game for the hosts, Billy Kanakis snagged four majors for the day, while Nick Wood, Jarrod Nash and Anthony Lynch turned in solid efforts.

However, the coach was a little more cynical upon reflection on Saturday evening.

“No, nothing good out of this,” Harford said.

“We were exploited every time we turned the ball over running forward of the ball and we got exploited on the way back, and they were terrific with their ball-use and they finished really well.

“So there were no two sides to it. It was just bad footy.”

In Premier, De La Salle had to do it the hard way but still managed to scrape home for a one-point win at Waverley Oval over contender St Bernards.

It was close all day but De La Salle had to overcome deficits at half-time and three-quarter time to overrun second-placed St Bernard’s in the last.

Over at Brighton Beach Oval, Old Xaverians was also locked into a tight battle with fellow Premier battler, Old Brighton, but couldn’t get over the line for its second win of the season.

Despite a four-goal haul from Matthew Handley and a 10-point advantage at quarter time, Old Xaverians fell eight points short of victory in a low-scoring affair that only yielded a combined 17 goals for the day.

In Division One, Old Geelong is one of four clubs currently vying for second spot at 5-3 after easily accounting for Bulleen Templestowe by 55 points on the road.

Tom Wigan and Callum Wood each snared four goals for the day as visiting Old Geelong broke away in the second term.

Old Brighton scored an important second win for the year in a tight affair with Old Xaverians at Brighton Beach Oval.

Despite going into the first change goal-less, the hosts slowly took control of the arm wrestle and held slight leads at half time and three-quarter time before finishing eight-point winners in the low-scoring slog.

Old Brighton coach Simon Williams said afterwards it was a “good win”.

“They had a few out, which we were aware of but it was still good to beat them,” Williams said.

“It’s just a real confidence booster, really. That’s our first win at home (and) we had a massive focus on that.

“They got out to a good lead halfway through the third quarter and they kicked three or four goals and we were able to peg them back and just be leading at three-quarter time and managed to hold on in the last quarter.”

Josh Dickerson celebrated game 250 in the win, while Daniel Anthony walked away with best-on honours after snagging four of Old Brighton’s nine goals for the day.

However it was his side’s good contested work that most impressed Williams after the game.

“It was a really in-close, competitive game and when it’s very low-scoring goals are at a premium and I just thought in the end that we wore them down a little bit in close, to be honest,” Williams explained.

“We started winning a few stoppages and we were just really good in close, held up the game, got it in our forward line, had repeat stoppages in there and eventually scored, so it was really good.”

Old Brighton remains eighth on the Premier table at 2-5 going into the bye.

Beaumaris is third at 5-2 after scoring a solid 47-point win over Old Scotch at home on Saturday.

The Sharks started well but coughed up a 17-point advantage to go into half-time seven points down.

However a six-goal third term restored the Sharks’ dominance before another seven added some percentage in the final quarter.

Scott Gower’s five goals was well-supported by William Murton’s four, while Luke Casey-Leigh scored three of his own on the day.

In Premier C, Hampton Rovers is travelling along nicely in third spot at 5-3 after giving its percentage a handy boost at the expense of Banyule at Boss James Reserve.

Samuel Clements, Josh McPherson and Josh Pavlou all booted four goals as Rovers ran away with the contest, eventually posting a thumping 110-point belting.

St Kevins man Sean Kennedy celebrates a goal against Mazenod.

Collegians did what it had to do in getting past St Bedes Mentone Tigers at Harry Trott Oval.

However, the host was forced to play catch-up from the get-go as the Tigers got the jump early in the piece, establishing a 17-point buffer by quarter time.

By half-time Collegians had the game pegged back to within single figures but St Bedes came again in the third, breaking out to a 14-point lead in the final term.

With Shura Taft (five goals) and Will Tardif returning to the line-up and both Nick Ries and Tom Penberthy providing solid contributions of their own, Collegians overran St Bedes in the final term to come away with a solid 34-point win.

Collegians co-coach Mark Hibbins was very impressed with his side’s final-quarter surge in the aftermath of its fourth win for the year.

“They played a pretty good brand of footy and they were probably almost three goals in front, so we were looking down the barrel and credit to our boys, they played really well,” Hibbins said.

“A lot of credit has to go to St Bedes.

“They were terrific. They played good, hard, contested footy and ran well, but in the end I think it was our height that eventually won out.”

In Premier B action on Saturday, AJAX became the University Blues’ latest victim at Gary Smorgan Oval, where the hosts fell to a 51-point drubbing against the ladder leaders.

AJAX was within 13 points at the main break but the Blues were simply too good, controlling the tempo from start to finish to run away with the win.

Caulfield Grammarians didn’t fare any better at home to Old Melburnians, suffering a disappointing 89-point belting at Glenhuntly Oval.

The visitors hit three digits on the scoreboard before Caulfield Grammarians had managed its third goal for the day, leaving the latter perched at 3-5 and eighth on the table.

In Division Two Elsternwick also sits eighth on the table after failing to keep up with South Melbourne Districts at home on Saturday.

The Swans led at every change but were never able to shake the hosts until the final term, where they kicked five goals to Elsternwick’s three to run away with a 28-point win.

Meanwhile in Division Three action, Albert Park recorded an important 44-point win over the Eley Park Sharks at home, while Power House struggled in its battle with Emmaus St Leos, going down in an 88-point thumping at Ross Gregory Oval.