Local Footy: Eagles lose fourth in a row by 100 points

VAFA Premier Section club Marcellin has matched University Blacks’ unenviable record in the B-section in 1991 by suffering its fourth consecutive loss by 100 points. After losses to Premier Section rivals Old Xaverians (122 points), Collegians (122) and De La Salle (139) in recent weeks, Marcellin went down to Old Scotch by 111 points at Camberwell on Saturday.

Marcellin midfielder Jarrod Carlson, who was named in the state squad during the week, and defender David Tantsis-Hall were rare shining lights for an Eagles team that was undersized and again hit by a bad injury. Midfielder Daniel Considine will miss a month after injuring ankle ligaments.

Scotch’s poor form of recent weeks prompted selectors to make eight changes for the match, half of them through omissions. One of the inclusions, back pocket Lachie Cohen, was composed in his first senior game, while former Carlton midfielder Lachie Hill was clearly best on ground.

Scotch forward Mark Passador kicked 7.7 in his best performance since joining the club this season from SANFL club Woodville-West Torrens.

Xavs scored the most impressive victory of the day when they squeezed past Uni Blues, the form team of recent weeks, to win by 21 points at Toorak Park. Xavs and Blues were separated by no more than two goals until Xavs drew clear in the last 15 minutes.

Xavs midfielder Josh Aguis kicked four goals and was clearly best on ground. Agius kicked two of his goals after receiving the ball in defence and then linking up through the middle until he was in a position to shoot. For one of those goals, he received the ball at half-back and ran diagonally through the centre square before lining up inside half-forward. It was a worthy candidate for the goal of the year.

In an indication of the Blues’ fortunes, speedy wingman Dan Nicholson put himself in position to kick the goal of the year only to have the ball taken off him. Nicholson ran and bounced from the wing until he was pinged for running too far as he straightened up to shoot from 15 metres out.

De La Salle scored a scrappy but important win when it defeated St Bede’s Mentone Tigers by 36 points at the Waverley Oval. The win pushed the Tigers down to fifth.

De La’s rangy wingman Tyson Hunt, 19, continued his superb first season in senior footy with another best-on-ground performance.

Collegians remain on top undefeated after seeing off Old Trinity by 54 points at Bulleen. Collegians half-forward Shura Taft continued his stellar season by kicking seven goals, while Trinity veteran Andrew Ramsden kicked eight of his team’s 11 goals.

In the match at Elsternwick Park on Sunday, Old Brighton took a vital step in its bid to avoid relegation when it drew away from Old Melburnians to win by 22 points in uncharacteristically still conditions at VAFA headquarters. Old Scotch (seventh), Old Melburnians (eighth) and Old Brighton (ninth) are now separated only by percentage.

Old Brighton’s Leigh Hendra, continuing to relish his move from the midfield to half-back, was best on ground.

On umpire appreciation day, the healthy crowd in front of the pavilion had a good laugh when an Old Brighton supporter responded to a contentious in-the-back decision by yelling out: “I’m finding it very hard to appreciate you right now.”

Comments

  1. Umpire appreciation day on the north west coast of Tassy had an interesting twist.

    In one of the games one of the umpires from the ones appeared to be supporting a specific team in the twos.

    Some of his decisions later in the day were hard to appreciate by one section of the crowd but delighted the others.

    Fortunately the result was big enough to negate any arguement of excessive influence by the disinfranchised.

  2. Doddsy fell on his sword Sunday, Leigh Carlson will resume his VAFA career.

  3. pauldaffey says

    Pal,

    Must feel sympathy for Doddsy. Sounds like the problems were well beyond his control.

    I forgot to mention in the above piece that he coached the Scotch under-19s for two years before taking on the Marcellin senior job this year. The Scotch people really felt for him last Saturday.

    Very interesting about Leigh Carlson, though. He’s had a great coaching career in the Ammos over many years.

    Hope the younger son is OK after having part of his spleen removed. Will he play again?

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