Sandringham wins elimination final to earn a pop at minor premier Port Melbourne
A HANDFUL of St Kilda players will be available to bolster Sandringham ahead of Saturday’s VFL semi-final against Port Melbourne
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BOTH teams were depleted. Sandringham went in with seven St Kilda players and Collingwood with only five AFL-listers.
It made for a test of the clubs’ VFL stocks and the Zebras showed the stronger hand to win Saturday’s elimination final at Victoria Park by 26 points.
The victory, Sandy’s first in a final since their 2006 premiership, earned them a pop at Port Melbourne in a semi-final at North Port Oval this weekend.
It will be a stern challenge to best the Borough, who dropped only two matches on their way to the minor premiership.
But Sandringham will have reinforcements available from the St Kilda end: Brodie Murdoch, Dylan Roberton, Nathan Wright, Cameron Shenton, Seb Ross and Spencer White are all qualified for the VFL finals.
“They all want to play, too,’’ coach Simon McPhee said. “Most of them did their time at Sandy and have enjoyed it, so they’d like to be a part of it.’’
After an even opening, the Zebras slipped away from Collingwood with five goals to none in the second quarter and kept their advantage in a low-scoring second half.
Clever small man Kenny Ong set the standard for Sandy with four goals.
Ong kicked his team’s first three and added another in the third quarter to extend the lead to an untouchable 30 points.
Darren Minchington, captain Adam Cockie and Tom Simpkin were other strong contributors.
McPhee acknowledged Collingwood was running thin on numbers, but said it was an invaluable experience for his young players to win a final at a historic ground.
“Sixteen Sandy kids in and they got the job done … you’ve got to be happy with that,’’ he said. “I was rapt with the effort and the result.’’
McPhee said his team would give it everything against minor premier Port, which lost its qualifying final to Box Hill Hawks and had aces Toby Pinwill and Marcus Marigliani reported for rough conduct.
“We’ll take the game on. We’ll attack the game,’’ McPhee said. “Our young players can’t wait for it.’’
The teams met once during the home-and-away season, with Port Melbourne winning the Round 13 encounter by 29 points.
Sandringham 1.4 6.4 9.7 10.11 (71) d Collingwood 2.2 2.5 4.7 5.15 (45)
Goals: Sandringham: Ong 4 Dunell 2 Cockie Minchington Dennis-Lane Kreymborg. Collingwood: Greenhough Moloney Kennedy Martin Karnezis
Best: Sandringham: Ong Minchington Munro Cockie Simpkin Saunders. Collingwood: Riddle Martin Blair Yagmoor Williams Gray
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