St Mary’s stun Thomastown in NFL Division 2 upset of the year contender
Find out why St Mary’s coach Fabian Carelli regards the win over Thomastown as the Burras’ best since promotion. Plus, Epping’s thrilling win over Watsonia.
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St Mary’s produced an early contender for upset of the Northern Football League season on Saturday, thumping Thomastown by 41 points.
The Burras claimed some big scalps in their debut Division 2 season in 2019, including Banyule, but for consistency, coach Fabian Carelli rated it the club’s best win at the level.
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“A couple of us spoke after the game and we thought if we’re talking about consistency, a good brand of four-quarter footy, that would have to be our best win in Division 2 by far,” Carelli said.
“We’ll take a lot of confidence from the weekend, it gives us a benchmark to draw on.
In a stunning four-quarter performance, St Mary’s increased its lead at every change to win 13.13 (91) to 6.14 (50) at Whatmough Park.
It was the Burras’ first win of the young season and halted any momentum the Bears earned in last week’s win over Eltham.
Jacob Yeomans (three goals) and Rory Hanlon (two goals) were red-hot in attack, while Adam Lucci, Joseph Maggio and Jack Dean marshalled the defence.
However, Carelli singled out Burras co-captain Nick Gedge for his job on Bears star Tyrone Leonardis.
“Nick had a ripping game, he did a defensive role on Tyrone and did an outstanding job,” Carelli said.
“He quelled his influence and that was really important after watching a bit of vision of how Thommo have performed the last couple of weeks.
“He gets a lot of the footy and obviously taking our a key playmaker goes a long way to winning a game of footy.”
St Mary’s jumped out to a 24-point lead at quarter-time and extended the margin to 30 by the main break.
In a strange third quarter, neither team could kick a goal, combining for 0.9.
“It was a bizarre quarter, there was no breeze so it was perfect, we both got forward entries but just couldn’t kick a goal,” Carelli explained.
“It was surreal, both teams moved the ball really well but it was like two boxers and neither could land a punch.”
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However, the Burras were quickly back into top gear in the fourth term, kicking 5.1 to Thomastown’s 3.5.
“We’ve been finishing well, our last quarters in the first two games have been strong, so the boys had the confidence to run the game out,” Carelli said.
“Jacob Yeomans put through a great snap from the boundary and even our ruckman Zach Hudson picked up a loose ball and snapped off three or four steps. So we got a couple of lucky goals.”
St Mary’s travel to Panton Hill in Round 3 for a rematch of the 2018 Division 3 grand final, while Thomastown will look to rebound against Fitzroy Stars on Anzac Day.
PINGERS KEY RECRUIT KICKS MATCH WINNER ON DEBUT
Boom Epping recruit Jhye Baddeley-Kelly delivered the match-winning moment on debut in a thrilling one-point win over Watsonia.
The Coburg VFL-listed star kicked what proved to be the winning goal in a thrilling finale that saw the Pingers come from three points down at three-quarter-time to snatch victory.
In a free-flowing, end-to-end NFL Division 2 contest, Epping’s accuracy in front of goal proved critical, winning 9.8 (62) to 8.13 (61) at AK Lines Reserve.
Despite coming through Epping’s junior ranks, it was Baddeley-Kelly’s senior debut for the club.
After being held out of the opening two matches with VFL commitments, the former North Heidelberg utility showed his quality at both ends.
“Speaking to a few people at Coburg he was unlucky to miss out (on Round 1),” Pingers coach Aaron Johnson said.
“It was great to have him, it was his first senior game for the club. He came through the juniors but he never played a senior game.
“He predominantly played across half-back and then we utilised him up forward in the last quarter. He, Alec Buchan and Dallyce Taylor were great targets.”
Big man Michael Jacobson claimed best-on-ground honours playing as a make-shift ruckman.
“We lost Andrew Tadd in a practice match and then Cameron Allum did a collarbone against Thomastown, so we’re short on talls,” Johnson said.
“We recruited him as a centre half-forward and he’s had to play ruck the last couple of weeks and put his body through hell.
“He competed really well in that last quarter to get us over the line with a couple of intercept marks, which were vital.”
Taylor was the leading goalkicker on the day with three majors.
Watsonia were best represented by Riley Taylor, Teague Van Zwienen and Ben McKenzie.
After two tough losses to title contenders Thomastown and Lower Plenty in an extended Round 1, Johnson was pleased to see his team put together a four-quarter performance.
“The first game against Thomastown we had a really good first half and then fell away and then the opposite the week after against Lower,” he said.
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“We know where we at at the moment, we’re still quite young so we’re looking for that growth and development.
“The expectation is we’re competitive and we’ve got our KPIs in place that measure our outcome.
“As long as we can achieve our KPIs then wins are nice and we can learn from our mistakes, the capability is there, it’s just the consistency.”
Epping will look to square its ledger when it welcomes Diamond Creek next Sunday, while Watsonia faces Banyule on Saturday.
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