Minor premier South Morang takes on a red hot Old Paradians at Eltham Central Park in the Division 2 preliminary final.
St Mary’s awaits the winner of this one in the Grand Final as South Morang fell short at to the ‘Burra by two points last Saturday. The Lions finished on top of the ladder and had the bye in week one of the finals but fell agonisingly short to St Mary’s last weekend.
South Morang seemed to be coming home strong in that contest and ended up actually scoring more goals than the ‘Burra for the afternoon. But the 33-point half time deficit was too much to overcome. South Morang scored all six goals in the second half, but the second half scoreline read South Morang 6.6 to St Mary’s 0.11, leaving the Burra with a two-point win come the final siren.
Lions’ ruck Nathan Stefanile who was once again was pivotal for his side. He had 44 hit outs, 13 hit outs to advantage, 13 clearances, 20 disposals, 16 contested possessions and 146 ranking points, quite an impressive performance in a losing side.
On the ball, Tyson Gresham was the inside bull who managed to find a bit of it for South Morang. He picked up 28 disposals, 15 contested possessions, six clearances, eight tackles and 129 ranking points.
Stefanile and Gresham will be a stoppage combination that Old Paradians have to watch out for. They will want to be well supported by Davin Cameron, who is having a fine season himself, averaging 24.0 disposals, 10.8 contested possessions, 4.4 clearances and 0.8 goals across 17 games this season. That trio is a big one to watch out for on Saturday.
Jesse John Christidis is the highest goal scorer of the season for South Morang, he’s slotted through 26 goals so far this season, he’ll be hoping to pick up a few majors this week.
On the other side of the park, Old Paradians have found form at the right time of the season, claiming three big wins in their last three games. In Round 18, they got an important win against Fitzroy Stars to lock themselves into fourth position. In the Elimination Final, they were 29-point victors over Whittlesea, who themselves were in form coming into the finals, and now most recently they put away Northcote Park by 46 points in the semi-final. The Raiders will be riding a wave of confidence heading into this one.
Whilst there were not a lot of high possession numbers all around the ground in this affair, with the Raiders’ highest numbers being skipper Kyle O’Sullivan picking up 22 disposals, and Joshua Iacobaccio grabbing 21. Ruckman Connor McDonald was super important in the ruck once again. He had a whopping 59 hit outs, seven hit outs to advantage, 11 clearances, 19 disposals, 15 contested possessions and 134 ranking points. Watch out for a huge battle in the ruck this week between Mcdonald and Stefanile.
McDonald’s tap work on Saturday was scooped up by captain O’Sullivan, who along with his aforementioned 22 disposals, had 16 contested possessions, ten clearances and 11 tackles. Combine those two with the likes of Mitch Kane and Joshua Iacobaccio, and there is a midfield quadrant that will want to bring their best to this Preliminary Final.
Liam Mcveigh’s 26 goals for the season has been the most for the Raiders, so he will want to add to that tally in this one.
Importantly to note as well for Old Paradians, it was only two years ago when they won the Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 Grand Final and got themselves promoted. In 2025, they finished eighth in MC Labour Division 2 and now find themselves a win away from a Grand Final in Division 2. What an achievement it would be to win their way through to this year’s decider.
For the Lions, they were MC Labour Division 2 Premiers in 2024, but then finished bottom in Melbourne Greyhounds Division 1 last year. They’ve been within the top three in Division 2 for most of the season and will feel they deserve a shot to be back in Division 1 next season.
With a Grand Final spot on the line, it is all to play for in this Preliminary Final between South Morang and Old Paradians.
