VAFA: Tony Mirabella kicks 13 goals for Prahran Assumption

A recruit from Perth couldn’t miss on Saturday as he gave the club’s goalkicking record a nudge at Toorak Park.

Tony Mirabella is all smiles as he walks off after a 13-goal bag.

Tony Mirabella started and finished the match on the bench for Prahran Assumption.

In between he gave one of the great performances in the club’s history.

The right-footer kicked 13.0 against Brunswick last Saturday in the VAFA Division 2 match at Toorak Park.

The veteran joined the club at the start of the season, having returned to Victoria from WA, where he was a prominent goalkicker in local football.

A friendship with a Prahran player led him to the amateurs, coach Matt Boland said.

Mirabella, 33, saw the initial exchanges from the bench and went on the ground after about eight minutes.

Pretty soon he was setting the goal umpire’s flags waving.

“It was some sort of display … he just turned it on,’’ Boland said.

“He kicked them from nice marks on the lead, contested marks, he kicked them at ground level, he kicked them from the boundary … he pretty much did the lot in that 13. And he didn’t miss.

“He’s obviously a very good footballer. He’s about six foot, with a really strong body, good overhead, a beautiful kick.’’

Asked why he had started Mirabella on the interchange bench, Boland explained that his charge had “a bit of a dodgy ankle and we were just looking after him’’.

“When we put him in the game, he just went bang, bang, bang,’’’ he said.

The injury forced Mirabella off the ground in the last quarter, only three goals shy of the club-record goal haul of 16 by Brian Taylor in 1991.

Boland himself was a noted goalkicker in the VFL and WAFL, but the first-year coach was watching on from the boundary on Saturday.

He played the first two matches but he’s attending to a groin problem.

His team has started the season handily with a team fresh with 15 recruits.

Prahran Assumption defeated St Mary’s Salesian by 19 points at the Trevor Barker Oval in Round 1, suffered a 58-point less to PEGS the following week and routed Brunswick by 100 points last Saturday.

Mirabella, of course, was best-afield but assistant coach Matt Clifford, ruckman Rory Brodie and Jonathon Simonetta did well too.

“We’ve got some talented players and a talented squad but with such a high turnover it might take a bit to start clicking,’’ Boland said.