After a thriller and three big wins last weekend, the scene is set for an intriguing round 4 of Heidelberg Golf Club Division 3 football.
Those who expected the round 3 clash between Heidelberg West and Old Eltham Collegians at Heidelberg Park to go down to the wire weren’t disappointed.
The Turtles started each quarter well, but were pegged back by the home side each time. In a tense final few minutes, Old Eltham Collegians did just enough to take the pace off the game to win by a solitary behind.
Both sides will meet twice more in the home and away season, but with both those games to be held at Eltham College, the Turtles will be pleased to have grabbed the early advantage away from home.
Kilmore rebounded from a narrow loss the previous week to record a 152-point win over Reservoir at Crispe Park, jumping into the top four as a result.
The Blues had twelve goal-kickers, with Grant Paxton moving from his usual spot in defence to lead the charge with five majors. Mark Cameron impressed in the ruck in only his second game while Luke Chapman’s intensity stood out, kicking four majors along the way.
Kilmore fans would be delighted to see Chris Ryall back in top form after an injury-riddled 2021 campaign.
“We executed out game plan and played at our level for the majority of the game”, said Kilmore coach Nathan Phillips.
The Mustangs were good early, booted the first goal of the game and were competitive in patches of the contest, but got overpowered as the day progressed.
“We competed hard, but Kilmore’s size and experience was too much for us”, said Reservoir coach Justin George.
George liked the work of midfielders Zane Pugliese-Thompson, Tom Dunn, Linden Young as well as defender Daniel Cole.
South Morang grabbed top spot on the ladder with a whopping score of 42.27 (279), which gave them a 263-point win over Lalor at Mill Park Lakes Reserve. Nathan Stefanile kicked ten majors to jump to the top of the goal-kicking ladder with a total of 13.
Ben Peterson booted nine in his first game for the season, while Mitch Kalpakis slotted six.
“It was good to get an even spread across the field”, said coach Gary Hall.
The good news for Bloods fans is that they managed to kick to two goals – courtesy of Tim Murphy and Daniel Ray. Ned Hawkins continued his consistent season to be named best for his team.
“We’re looking at getting small wins in different parts of the game which we did early, now it’s about doing them for longer”, said Lalor coach Angelo Lamanna.
It was expected that Mernda would be primed for the contest against Laurimar. Surely enough, the Demons stayed within striking distance for most of the clash before the Power pulled away late for a 51-point victory in a high-scoring encounter.
Jacson Cecil booted four in the victory with Matthew Gersh standing out in his role through the midfield and half forward.
“Not a perfect game, but a great effort in the end to overrun them”, said Laurimar coach Jimmy Atkins.
Atkins gave a big tick to Luke Wilson who has been in hot form to start the season. The same can be said for Jake Richards who was again among the best.
Nicholas Eades pleased fans in his first senior game for the season for Mernda. Josh Mazzarella put his best foot forward with four goals rotating between forward and midfield.
The Demons debuted 17-year-old Joel Harris, as well as Matthew Bawden, who won the club’s under 19s Best & Fairest last year.
Mernda fans won’t like the club’s 0-3 start to the season after playing a trio of finals contenders. But they would be favoured to record their maiden win for 2022 when travelling to Lalor Reserve to play the other winless team in Lalor.
The current form of the Bloods would suggest that it’s a tough task for them to register their first win this week. An upset win would be great, but a small victory of sorts would be seeing some improvement as the season unfolds. Their previous meeting was in round 1 of 2021 when the Demons prevailed by 27-points at Waterview Recreation Reserve.
After this match, the Demons have a home game against Reservoir, so chance to record back-to-back wins could somewhat revive their season.
Heidelberg West heads north to J.J. Clancy Reserve to take on Kilmore. After last week’s narrow loss, the Hawks find themselves back in fifth spot on the table, but a win would propel them into the four and ahead of the Blues.
However, the Hawks would need to do better than last year’s meeting at this venue, when they lost by 70-points. Their last win at the venue was in 2018 when they won a close encounter by 9-points.
A win by Kilmore would see them firmly entrenched in the top four.
Reservoir has back-to-back home games with a match against league leaders South Morang. It’s pretty hard to see the Lions losing this one and most Mustang fans would be happy to see the team continuing on the steady road to recovery.
Both teams may view this as a lead-in to future matches. Reservoir plays Mernda away the following week in what fans would see as an easier challenge than tackling the Lions, while South Morang faces a quartet of games against the others in the top five between rounds 5 to 8.
A match full of interest to complete the round see Old Eltham Collegians host Laurimar at Eltham College.
The Turtles would join the unbeaten Power on three wins if they can prevail. Their last meeting at the venue was in round 16, 2021 when Laurimar won by 20-points. In a similar vein, their other meeting in 2021 saw the Power get over the line by 19-points at Laurimar Reserve in round 4.
Based on these results and ladder positions, the Power would probably go in as slight favourites to keep their unbeaten run going.
However, the home ground advantage would give Old Eltham Collegians fans plenty of optimism as they seek to claim a finals berth for the first time.
