VAFA Premier B: St Bernard’s braces for top-four tests after impressive start to season

ST BERNARD’S is bracing for a defining month of the Premier B season as it prepares to face the division’s other leading finals contenders in consecutive weeks.

St Bernards has made an impressive start to the Premier B season. Picture: VAFA media.

ST BERNARD’S is bracing for a defining month of the Premier B season as it prepares to face the division’s other leading finals contenders in consecutive weeks.

A clear divide is evident after five rounds of the Victorian Amateur Football Association campaign in the second tier, with two games and more than 60 per cent between fourth-placed Caulfield Grammarians and Mazenod (sixth).

The Snowdogs are third on the ladder, equal with Caulfield Grammarians at 4-1 but boasting a vastly superior percentage.

They will host top-two side University Blacks on May 19 as part of a stretch which also includes matches against Beaumaris, Caulfield and Old Carey.

“This year it’s a little bit more one-sided with the top and bottom half,” St Bernard’s skipper Simon Caven said.

“But it is no easy feat getting back to A Grade. It can come right down to the line which it did last year.”

Relegated from Premier Division in 2016, the Snowdogs fell one game short of an immediate return when they lost the Premier B preliminary final by 14 points to Old Scotch last year.

St Bernard’s has been boosted by the return of key forward Chad Jones and midfielder Tom Sullivan, while North Melbourne VFL-listed on-baller Chris Peart has joined as an aligned player.

“We had a lot of new guys in the team so we are still trying to get a bit of synergy together and that’s happening week by week,” Caven said.

Jones has returned to the Snowdogs after last featuring in 2015, when he kicked 43 goals from 15 matches.

He has started 2018 with 25 goals from five games, including a haul of nine majors against Ajax last weekend and six goals in Saturday’s 19.18 (132) to 7.13 (55) win over Old Haileyburians.

“Our forward line is pretty young,” Caven said.

“He’s a really good leader for those young guys like Michael Caven and Edyn Sibbald. He’s got a lot of knowledge and he can help make them much better forwards.”

Nick Cooke, Tom Caven and Chris Hughes were also influential in the 77-point victory. St Bernard’s will be out to stretch the gap between itself and its fellow finals contenders when it takes on Mazenod this Saturday.