De La Salle rattles home but can’t catch resurgent Old Xaverians

DE LA SALLE coach Paul Satterley says his team faces a ‘grand final’ against Old Brighton this weekend.

De La Salle coach Paul Satterley says his team faces its “grand final’’ this week. Picture: Valeriu Campan

Old Xaverians is now within striking distance of the Premier top four after withstanding a late De La Salle surge at Waverley Oval on Saturday.

After dominating the first half to lead a goalless De La Salle by 39 at the main break, Old Xavs was made to earn its six-point win.

With the help of Mitch Carney (three goals) and Adrian Indovino (two), ninth-placed De La pushed Old Xavs with five of the six goals scored in the last quarter but was ultimately left ruing a poor second quarter.

“They were kicking with what felt like a seven or eight-goal breeze early in the game so I thought whilst they kicked 5.9 in the first quarter, I felt we were pretty competitive early,” De La coach Paul Satterley explained.

“It was really the second quarter where we didn’t have enough inside-50s to have an impact on the scoreboard and to kick seven points we obviously didn’t get reward for effort.”

De La will host Old Brighton this weekend in a “do or die” battle to stay up, according to Satterley.

“It’s a grand final for the footy club,” he said.

“They’re up and about and been really competitive but for us we get Sam Williams and Ed Murphy back so we’ll probably have our strongest team for the year.”

Old Xaverians will take on St Bedes back at Toorak Park.

Meanwhile in Premier B it was a disappointing day at King Oval for St Kevins, who slipped down to fourth place on the table after going down to flag favourite, University Blues.

The Skobbers failed to quell the influence of Blues forward Tom Mackenzie – whose seven goals proved the difference in the host’s 52-point win.

Billy Kanakis (four goals) and Josh Gabelich (three) both battled hard throughout the day for St Kevins but in the end the Blues’ dominant second and third quarters decided the game.

The Skobbers, not yet guaranteed any finals action, will play Mazenod (sixth) and Old Carey (second) in the lead-up to September.

Old Geelong is a step closer to securing a finals berth in Division One and has its destiny in its own hands after accounting for Whitefriars at Donvale Reserve.

Whitefriars led by seven points at halftime after giving up five first quarter goals to one but Old Geelong controlled the second half to run out 37-point winners.

Aaron Bird led the way up forward for Old Geelong with three goals for the day while Colby O’Brien (one goal) was best-on-ground in the win.

AJAX scored its most important win for the year away to Old Carey.

Just two weeks out from the Premier B finals series, AJAX is now one of three clubs vying for third spot on the table but a percentage of 99.06 means the Jackas need wins against the University Blues and Fitzroy in the coming fortnight.

Saturday’s clash against second-placed Carey remained relatively close but AJAX maintained an advantage on the scoreboard throughout.

With Jake Lew kicking three goals and Rubin Winograd starring around the ground, AJAX ended up 17 points ahead by the final siren.

AJAX vice-president Andrew Shenker said the win was his club’s “most vital” for the year after other weekend results fell their way.

“The defensive efforts were outstanding and probably the most pleasing part in the end was they really had a crack at us in the last quarter and got within four points but we were just able to stem that,” Shenker said.

“So to just not let them get ahead was really important for our confidence.

“The belief is if we play with the same belief and intensity (against the Blues this weekend) then we could be OK, but at the end of the day they’re a tough side to beat.

“But we take some confidence in, that’s for sure.”

Caulfield Grammarians can ensure safety from relegation out of Premier B this weekend against Old Ivanhoe but could have also done so away to Old Melburnians on Saturday.

Instead, Grammarians was ordinary in a low-scoring affair – kicking just four goals for the day in a 59-point loss at Melbourne Grammar.

Grammarians did not register a score of any kind in both the first and third quarters and was never in the contest despite winning the last quarter with three unanswered goals.

Up in Premier, Collegians’ three-game winning streak came to a halt at St Bernards, leaving Collegians perched in fifth place on the ladder.

Collegians would have entered the top four with a win against the Snowdogs after Old Trinity went down to Beaumaris.

On Saturday Collegians could only muster a single point in the opening term and from there St Bernards was a comfortable leader, eventually winning by 32 points.

Shura Taft was Collegians’ only multiple goal-scorer with two majors for the day.

In Division Two Elsternwick ensured safety with a comfortable 29-point win over Monash Gryphons at East Caulfield Reserve courtesy of a seven-goal blitz from Aaron Thornton.

The day wasn’t so great for South Melbourne Districts, who went down to Ivanhoe by 67 points.

In Division Three Power House dominated the Eley Park Sharks for its third successive win, with David Burnside’s three goals earning him best-on-ground honours.

Albert Park wasn’t so lucky, going down by 50 against Aquinas.