Southern league: Lights out as James Magner kicks five goals on debut for St Kilda City

The lights shut off 15 minutes into the last quarter but by then St Kilda City was well in front of Port Melbourne Colts.

St Kilda City recruits James Magner (right) and Madison Andrews in the middle of the circle after their team’s win over Port Melbourne Colts.

There was the youthful talent of Under 19 graduates Amani Karauria-Lunt and Pearce Hutchinson.

And there was the experience of Brownlow Medal champion Dane Swan, James Magner and Madison Andrews.

Put together, the mix of the raw and the wrinkled made for a rollicking start to the Southern league division 1 season for St Kilda City.

Little was heard from City in the off-season – unusual given some of the high-profile signings at the Peanut Farm in the past few years – and it went into the SFNL Division 1 season-opener unfancied against a recruit-rich Port Melbourne Colts at Murphy Reserve last Friday night.

The match finished abruptly at 9.30am when the lights, on a council-operated timer, shut down.

By then City was well ahead; in darkness it walked off a 17.13 (115) to 9.9 (63) winner.

Murphy Reserve fell into darkness at 9.30pm.

Lining up on the ball and then going forward, former Melbourne AFL midfielder Magner kicked five goals on debut for the St Kilda club and his ex-Berwick teammate Andrews lived up to reports to Hoy that he was a “contested beast’’.

“He’s an out-and-out clearance player. He’s scary-strong,’’ Hoy said of the multiple league medal winner.

He said Magner’s performance was “inspirational’’; he kicked four goals in the third quarter.

“He reckons he’s going at 60 per cent at the moment,’’ he said.

Swan coasted across half back, picking up possessions and using them to set City up for forward advances. Luke Potts, another decorated veteran, was prominent too.

Karauria-Lunt, in his second senior game, booted three goals as a forward and midfielder, and tall 19-year-old Hutchinson, a City junior from Under 9s, lined up at centre half back.

“Was as solid as a rock,’’ Hoy said of Hutchinson.

“Took a few marks, had three or four runs off half back. Was ulta-impressive.’’

He pointed out that 11 of City’s players had come out of the juniors.

Dingley sings the song after seeing off Cheltenham in Round 1.

Was it an upset win for St Kilda City?

“No. We didn’t think for a minute we were worse than them on paper,’’ Hoy said.

“We understand Port Colts put that side together pretty late. It was similar to us last year. You put 15 guys in and it’s going to take a bit of time.

“We had pretty much the same side with a couple of kids and then Jimmy (Magner) and Maddy (Andrews), so we were pretty confident we could get the result. We were happy to fly under the radar. We didn’t make any noise this pre-season. Kept it low-key.’’

He said he hoped the victory put some cheer into club great Rodney “Rocket’’ Gamlin, who has been on the sick list.

For Colts, star forward Mitch Clarke kicked four kicked and Paul “Chewy’’ Scanlon made an excellent start for his new club.

Division 1 newcomer Cranbourne was quick to get on the board, defeating the promoted Springvale Districts at Newcomen Rd.

The Demons had a number of senior players and their coach Kris Thompson out with Covid, but they led at half time.

Cranny, however, got on top late in the match and won 13.19 (97) to 7.5 (47), with champion spearhead Marc Holt booting five goals.

St Kilda AFLW assistant and former Frankston VFL senior coach Patrick Hill stepped in for Thompson, who tuned in from his Patterson Lakes home and had a direct line to Hill.

“I tried to stay out of it as much as I could,’’ Thompson said. “Let’s just say they (Districts players) were in good hands.’’

Thompson said Cranbourne was a good team and “we competed as well as we could for 85 per cent of the game’’.

“It was party time for them in the last 10, 15 minutes,’’ he said.

“They definitely deserved to win but we didn’t deserve to lose by 50 points.’’

Not wanting to be seen to be making excuses, he refused to say which players the Demons were missing, but former AFL forward Tyrone Vickery and league medal winner Matt Wetering did not play.

The Springvale club had six players making their first senior appearance for the club: Toby Arms, Ryan Macdermid (who was the Demons’ best player), Alex Derzekos, Shakore Bragg-Taylor, Zaner Merdanovic and Matt Blair.

In other games:

St Paul’s East Bentleigh bolted away from Bentleigh in the second half to win 20.15 (135) to 7.6 (48), with junior Christopher Rousakis kicking three goals and being named in the best on debut.

Dingley led at every change at Jack Barker Oval to defeat Cheltenham 12.9 (81) to 7.13 (55). VAFA recruit Tom McKinley, described as “tough as nails and a clean ball user’’ by coach Danny Ades, was among the best for the Dingoes and Josh Fox (four goals) made a strong return from injury for the Rosellas.

Ades hurt his calf in the first quarter. In his absence Lachie Lamble, Andrew Godfrey and Kris Feehan kept the backline together.

Brendon Moore’s Mordialloc (9.11-65) picked up a first-up win over East Malvern (4.11-35) at Dunlop Reserve.