Harrison kicks goal after siren in win over Premier rival Old Xaverians

In a VAFA Anzac Day classic the Paul Satterley-coached De La Salle trails all day but manages to get up thanks to a goal after the siren by Leigh Harrison.

Xavier Murphy, pictured playing for Box Hill last season, booted three goals for De La Salle on Saturday. Picture: Mark Dadswell

DE La Salle’s Leigh Harrison walked off Toorak Park the hero of his side’s Anzac Day win over Old Xaverians on Saturday afternoon..

Harrison clonked a mark in the dying moments and slotted through his third goal after the final siren to snatch a three-point win for his club.

De La had not led for the entire day and trailed by 14 points going into the final change but still found a way to post win number one for the season, much to the delight coach Paul Satterley.

“We didn’t play the style of footy we wanted to play in the first half and subsequently we were down at half-time,” Satterley said.

“I did drill into them that we wanted to play a wet-weather brand of footy and the rain never really came early in the game, so we sort got away from the way we wanted them to play.

“Once we had the chance to readdress what we wanted to do with the footy, we starting playing with the style and brand we wanted.

“The last quarter went for 32 minutes and we never gave up, so I’m just really proud of their efforts today.”

Xavs co-coach Ted Woodruff wasn’t happy with his side’s late fade-out after dominating what was a low-scoring slog throughout the day.

“A disappointing loss given that I think we controlled essentially 99 per cent of the game,” Woodruff said.

“But coming against a side at 0-2 that desperately needed to win — they just fought that little bit harder in the end, so very disappointing for us.”

Matthew Handley was Xavs’ only multiple goal-kicker with three majors but Woodruff and his coaching staff were still able to find winners around the ground.

“Jarryd Skene was excellent tagging Sam Williams and our half-back line of Josh Douglas, Charlie Woodley and Chris Larkins were excellent,” he said.

Xavier Murphy also slotted three goals alongside Harrison for De La while Tom Humphrey (one goal) and David Convery were excellent throughout the day.

Ben Kennedy and

Xavier Murphy, pictured playing for Box Hill last season, booted three goals for De La Salle on Saturday. Picture: Mark Dadswell

Caydn Beetham also put in good performances for Old Xaverians.

Xaverians remains sixth on the table after three rounds and will take on Beaumaris on Saturday while seventh-placed De La Salle will host Old Carey.

In Premier B action at the Junction Oval, St Kevins enjoyed a day out against Old Melburnians, rollicking its way to an easy 91-point win.

Former Port Adelaide star Steven Salopek slotted four majors and was best afield for the Skobbers who broke away in the second term after trailing by a point with only one goal on the board at quarter time.

Seventeen of the next 19 goals went the way of St Kevins.

Old Geelong remains fourth on the Division 1 table after kicking clear from Whitefriars in the second half to finish 28-point winners on the road.

Jack McMeel was the focal point up forward with five goals while Callum Wood proved handy with three.

A young Caulfield Grammarians side fell 23 points short of victory on the road against Mazenod on Saturday.

Grammarians started well with a 15-point break on Mazenod at quarter time but the hosts fought back in the second term to lead by a single point at the main break.

Grammarians came again in the third and edged their way ahead going into the final change but winless Mazenod found another gear in the last quarter, going on to kick the only four goals to get their season going.

Fielders president Warwick Watson admits it would have been handy to come away with the points ahead of a tough Round 4 road trip to Brighton Beach Oval to take on the Tonners.

“It was pretty hard-fought all the way through so it was pretty even,” Watson said.

The Fielders have not yet scored more than 10 goals in their opening three games and are still looking for a dominant matchwinner inside forward 50, according to Watson.

Despite the Fields’ staggered early season form (1-2) under new coach Wayne Oswald, Watson hopes to see his young side improve throughout the year.

“We want to win every game we go into — no side’s unbeatable,” he said.

Louis O’Keefe finished with three goals while James Shanahan was effective up the ground.

Meanwhile over at Brunswick Street Oval it was a better day for AJAX which snuck away with a three-point win over Fitzroy. The Jackas were sluggish out of the blocks and could only convert 2.6 (18) during the first half but Marty Pask’s men came good during the third term with the only four goals scored for the quarter.

Going into the final term with a 15-point cushion, Ajax was able to hold of the fast-finishing Lions with the help of strong performances from Jake Lew (three goals) and Geoffrey Measey.

In Premier Section, Collegians was able to get off the bottom of the table but not through a win, going down by 30 points at Old Scotch.

Old Brighton Grammarians may have established itself as the early Premier B flag favourite after getting past local rival Hampton by 29 points on Anzac Day.

The Tonners are now just one of two undefeated Premier B sides and sit 12 percentage points ahead of fellow contender St Kevins three rounds into the season.

However with a stern test looming against St Kevins in Round 5, Tonners coach Greg Hutchison knows the importance of heeding the well-worn ‘one week at a time’ mantra.

“The interesting thing is players come and go throughout the course of the season and we’ve had a very good start to the year, which is really good and credit to the players who have worked really hard,” Hutchison said.

“So we’re optimistic that if we continue to work hard we’ll be OK throughout the course of the year.”

On Saturday at Boss James Reserve, the Tonners were able to keep the young Rovers at arm’s length for most of the day and led at every change, but were never comfortably in front during the first half.

With the help of a best-on-ground seven-goal display from in-form sharpshooter Daniel Anthony, the Tonners kicked 30 points clear in the third quarter to set up their third successive win since suffering relegation out of Premier Section.

“It was a tight contest with really good opposition on a hard ground on a really historic day for everyone involved, but I wanted the boys to come away with a win, so it was a very tough game,” Hutchison said.

“They were a little bit undermanned with a couple out so we were probably fortunate to get over the top. They might have been a bit vulnerable.”

Charlie King (three goals) and Jon Perrett (two) also enjoyed good days for Old Brighton while Sam Bradford and Josh McPherson each snared three goals for the Rovers.

But the day belonged to the Tonners’ seven-goal man.

“He played pretty well,” Hutchison said of Anthony.

“He had plenty of opportunities throughout the course of the game but he certainly contributed well, so it was a good result for him.”

Hampton has one win from three starts after coming up from Premier C in 2014 and will have its hands full this weekend against St Kevins.

Meanwhile Beaumaris is still waiting to sing the song after going down to St Bernards away from home.

The young Sharks remained competitive throughout the day but the lead remained beyond them for the entirety, as the Snowdogs controlled proceedings from the outset.

With a quarter to go the margin remained just 11 points but the Snowdogs managed to widen the gap in the final term, eventually handing the Sharks a 27-point defeat.

Daniel Gribbin has kicked nine goals for the year after slotting four for Beaumaris, while Michael DeFontenay and Matthew Williams were impressive contributors throughout the day.

Sitting eighth on the table, Beaumaris (0-2-1 will try to take advantage of underperforming Old Xaverians at Banksia Reserve on Saturday.

The newly-promoted Parkdale Vultures are still waiting for their first Premier B win after going down to local rival St Bedes/Mentone on Anzac Day.

The Tigers, down from Premier Section in 2014, led at every change but didn’t break free from the young Vultures until the final term, eventually leaving Brindisi Street Oval with a solid 55-point win.

Parkdale went into the three-quarter time huddle only 10 points down but could only muster up two behinds in the final term while giving away seven unanswered goals the other way.

Vultures coach Sam Radford, while acknowledging his side’s 0-3 start, was keen to find positives in the loss.

“For all three games of the year so far we’ve been pretty competitive in patches, we’re just yet to play four quarters and we’ve just got to work on a couple of things,” Radford said.

“We probably lack that little bit of polish. We just missed a couple of crucial goals and playing against a very good side, you need to take every opportunity and we kept them in the game. And in the last quarter they ran over the top of us.”

Frankston-listed player Sam Fox was handy with three goals for the Vultures while 17-year-old Lachie Butler also drew praise from his coach.

Currently second-last on the table and only ahead of Fitzroy by percentage, Parkdale will be hoping it can snatch a win from Old Melburnians, Hampton Rovers, Old Brighton or Mazenod in the upcoming schedule.

Despite that difficult fixture, Radford hopes to see his Vultures on the winners list soon enough.

“I don’t feel like we’re far off,” he said. “We’ve had our first three games away, so we’ll get a lot of home games in the run down.

“But we’re not far off and as long as we keep improving each week the results will take care of themselves.’’

Chris Mangoni had a big hand in St Bedes win over Parkdale on Saturday, being named best on ground.

For St Bedes Tim Jeans led the way with three goals and Chris Mangoni (one goal) was best-on-ground.

Meanwhile over at Turner Road Reserve, Old Mentonians and Prahran Assumption played a stunning Division 1 thriller that ended with the Panthers escaping with a one-point win in a high-scoring affair.

Dustin Mills was best-on-ground with five goals while Anthony Palmer and Kyle Conlon each snagged three majors for the Panthers.

Captain Brad Norton played his 150th game for the club.