St Bernard’s climbs to top of VAFA Premier Division despite being below its best in win over De La Salle

WITH the cards seemingly stacked against it, St Bernard’s found a will to win against De La Salle on Saturday to move to the top of the VAFA Premier ladder.

VAFA: St Bernard's versus University Blacks at St Bernards College, West Essendon. Victorian Football Association St Bernards coach Anthony Rock. Pictures: Angie Basdekis

ANTHONY Rock could sense something was off about St Bernard’s on Thursday night.

Despite a stirring Victorian Amateur Football Association win against University Blues, the Snowdogs lacked their usual energy.

Rock’s sense of unease was compounded when Tom Caven left the track with an ankle injury, while Ben Considine was also ruled out of the club’s clash with De La Salle.

Injuries to Nick Cooke and Sam Fleming early in Saturday’s Round 5 match only added to the feeling it was not going to be St Bernards’ week.

With the odds stacked against it, Rock’s side picked itself out of a funk to claim a 13.3 (81) to 9.8 (62) victory over De La Salle and move to the top of the Premier Division ladder.

“We got some injuries early which really hurt our rotations and the opposition played some really competitive football,” Rock said.

“We were off on the day, but to dig in and get up in the last quarter was a good effort.

“But we know that we weren’t at our best.”

Tom Gleeson played a vital hand with five goals, while Simon Caven, Chris Peart and James Bennie were also influential.

The victory was not sealed until the final quarter, with St Bernard’s coming from five points behind at the last break.

“We didn’t have a good week,” Rock said.

“We lost Tom Caven with an ankle injury at training, we also lost Ben Considine at training.

“It sent a bit of shock through the camp, so we didn’t have the best training session.

“That flowed into Saturday ...(but) they’re a pretty proud group.

“They wanted to win not having played well.”

St Bernard’s fourth victory in five matches lifted it to the top of the ladder, replacing Old Trinity after it was beaten by University Blacks.

Rock said mixed results across the division had emphasised the importance of avoiding sub-par performances.

“One of the issues we’ve had this year is we haven’t been able to convert as much as we’d like,” he said.

“We converted pretty well on the weekend and that was the difference in the game really.”

He said Caven was likely to return for Saturday’s trip to Harry Trott Oval, where the Snowdogs will tackle 2014 grand finalist Collegians.