division one - Victorian Amateur Football Association

DIVISION 1Darren DawsonPIRATES ON SHAKY GROUNDOne could almost feel the seismic shift in thecompetition last week when North Old Boys – St.Patrick’s comprehensively defeated PeninsulaOld Boys at Gillon Oval. That rumbling was nottectonic plates shifting beneath us; indeed, itwas the sound of the Pirates being dislodgedfrom their perch at the top of the table for thefirst time since round 2. All of a sudden, NOBs/St Pats rich vein of form marks them as the newpremiership favourites, a prospect which wouldhave been unthinkable to those who witnessedtheir 88 point capitulation to the Pirates in round2. It remains NOBs only loss for the season. Priorto last Saturday, the Pirates would certainly nothave believed that a romp to the flag was aforegone conclusion, but now they are under noillusions whatsoever that the task before themwill be a tough assignment.NOB/St Pats produced a display which had thelarge home crowd in raptures, and in doing soassumed top spot with their defeat of the teamthey are more than likely to meet in the secondsemi-final. It was a ruthless display by NOBs, whomore than atoned for their early-season loss tothe Pirates. A narrow half-time lead of two goalsmorphed into a 40-point defeat of an off-keyPeninsula line-up. In a strangely low-scoringcontest, the goals were shared around, with thebest for the victors being Sam O’Connor, PeterShepherd, Adam Oakley and Peter Ryan; for thevanquished, the best players were Joel Hood,Stefan Barbour and Tom Coughlin.Just like Old Geelong the week before, OldMentonians became the latest team to fall to alower-ranked opponent and thus pay the priceof tumbling out of the four. It is never a goodtime to be in the bottom six, but the closer weget to finals the tougher it will be to climb backin. Terrible kicking for goal – particularly in thefirst term - did not assist the Panthers’ cause,but all credit must go to Ormond, who bouncedback from the previous week’s disappointingloss to Glen Eira to produce a stirring win. ThePanthers threw everything bar the kitchensink at the home team in the final quarter, butthe Monders stood tall; best for Ormond werewingman Wayne Cove, ruckman Dan Haysom,and 15 year-old Sam Mason in his second seniorgame. Best for Old Mentonians were WarwickStone in the ruck, and on-ballers Tim Wigney andTim Wilton.Whitefriars scored their fourth consecutive winwith a workmanlike victory over Williamstown.After an even first quarter, the Friars exertedtheir superiority in the second to lead by 45points at the long break, eventually running outwinners by 92 points. Dan Massarotti celebratedhis return to senior football with a best onground performance, whilst Rowan Mattinsonand Simon Brosolo relished their unfamiliarroles on the forward line; solid performancesfrom all players ensured that there would be nosurprise result from the usually tricky journeyover the Westgate. Best for Williamstown wereFin Adamson, Ben Gray, Ryan Danaher and JasonBencich in his second senior game.The Unicorns easily defeated the Saints atthe high school by 49 points, whilst theOggers made light of the conditions to post apercentage-boosting 20-goal victory over StJohn’s at Doveton.TODAY SELECTIONS IN BOLDNorth Old Boys/St Pats v Williamstown CYMSOld Geelong v Glen EiraPeninsula v MHSOBSt Johns v OrmondWhitefriars v Old Mentonians4 THE AMATEUR FOOTBALLER 2012SPORTS INJURY CASUALTY - Get OPEN back 1-7 in SATURDAY the game