Victorian Amateur Football Association: St Kevin’s Old Boys set themselves for semi-final against Collegians
St Kevin’s warmed up for the Premier finals in the best way possible, with an 83-point thumping of a disappointing Old Melburnians.
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St Kevin’s warmed up for the Premier finals in the best way possible, with an 83-point thumping of a disappointing Old Melburnians at TH King Oval on Saturday.
On the back of six goals from livewire Billy Kanakis, SKOBs piled on the pressure and ran away with an easy 18.9 (117) to 4.10 (34) win to earn top spot and the minor premiership.
With Collegians faltering and losing two of their past three games, SKOBs take aim at the finals series as premiership favourite.
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St Kevin’s coach Tom Williams, while pleased to finish the home-and-away season with a win, quickly turned his attention to next week.
“We have given ourselves the best possible chance after the year we have had but anything can happen in finals,” he said.
“We didn’t go into the season looking to finish in a certain position on the ladder or aiming for first or second, we simply focused on how we went about it and how we wanted to play the game.
“At this level of football you have to smell the roses at some point but the job isn’t done and we have a lot of work to do.”
With his attention on the team as a whole, Williams took time to pay credit to 2018’s leading goalkicker Kanakis.
“Billy is a special player and with 53 goals this year he has had a great season.” Williams said. “He played a couple of games with Coburg in the VFL a few weeks ago and did really well.
“We play Billy about 60 per cent in the forward line and the other 40 per cent on the ball and for him to kick that many goals means he can play the game and he definitely has potential to play in the AFL.”
Other players to play well for SKOBs include Callum Matheson, Harrison Lagastes and James Corboy while for OMs, state player Josh Freezer and Jordan Hooper tried hard.
Next week St Kevin’s takes on Collegians in the second semi-final, a place in the grand final at stake, while Old Brighton will do battle with Old Trinity in the cut throat first semi-final.
In other Premier games this week, De La Salle saved its best for last with a relegation-saving 85-point win over St Bedes/Mentone, 16.21 (117) to 4.8 (32). St Bedes has been relegated to Premier B next season along with Old Scotch.
After leading at the last change Old Xaverians put up a brave fight but a six-goal burst in the last quarter gave Old Brighton a 16.8 (104) to 13.7 (85) win.
In Premier C, Old Geelong can take a lot of confidence into next week’s semi-final after a big win over top-of-the table Williamstown CYMS 19.5 (119) to 9.17 (71).
The Oggers will take on Old Camberwell in the first semi-final.
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