St Bedes / Mentone Tigers wrote their own piece of Amateur football history this weekend when they became the first club in VAFA history to win consecutive premierships in ‘C’, ‘B’ and ‘A’ Sections. The back-to-back-to-back had never been done in the 117 year history of amateur football in this state.
The Tigers led by first-time coach Luke Beveridge (Beveridge has coached for 3 seasons for 3 premierships – not bad for a debutant coach) took to the field for their first ‘A’ Section Grand Final against Collegians who were a founding member of the Amateur Association in 1892…..
The game was previewed by the VAFA scribe as ‘the upstarts versus the aristocrats’ and we all know what happened in the French Revolution – some of the ruling class found themselves at the wrong end of the guillotine.
The Tigers were brave from the outset when they took the biggest risk in football by winning the toss in the Grand Final and kicking into a 5 goal Elsternwick Park zephyr, their pressure on the footy and on the ball-carrier were classic grand final fare and redolent of their approach to the game all year (and in fact for the last 3 years)
As the first quarter rolled on it was clear that Collegians game plan had not adjusted from their defeat in the 2nd semi final and indeed they seemed even more impacted by the physical pressure and the implied pressure exerted by the whole SBMT team who ran, chased, tackled, bullocked, smothered and scrapped like a premiership depended on it…..indeed it did…..
Paul Wintle was a tower of strength in the backline whether marking or spoiling at centre half back or taking the knockout as third man up in the ruck contests while Paul Groves was totally controlling his wing with strong marking, clever handball and hard running whether chasing down the opposition or taking his side into attack.
With the wind in the second the Tigers peppered the goal, and with skipper Luke Wintle dominating in the air and tackling with the ferocity of man on a mission to lead his team to its third conscutive flag, had almost put the minor premiers away at half time to lead by 40 points with the scoreboard showing Collegians goalless and a paltry 0.3 to show for their efforts.
Being so far behind Collegians came out after half time and decided to bomb at goal at every opportunity, however, kicking at goal on-the-run, from 50 metres out, under pressure, in a gusty Elsternwick Park wind the result was unsurprisingly an unflattering 2 goals 12 behinds – the pressure of being so far behind at the half certainly showed in this desperate, relatively-unscientific approach and the faces of the flag favourites showed the anguish from the constant harassment from the Mentone team.
The Tigers were amazingly focussed at the 3/4 time huddle notwithstanding leading by 3 goals with a 5 goal wind at their back – seeing the look on the faces of the Tiger men left no room for doubt as to who would be the premier team after the ensuing 30 minutes of battle.
As it passed the Tigers kicked out to a 39 point lead half way through the term, the Wesley team did manage to make the scoreboard look a little more respectable with 3 late goals but these were after the premiership cup had left the station on its familiar journey down the Nepean Highway to Brindisi Street
Daniel Poynton had been simply outstanding in defence keeping the competition’s 90 goal leading spearhead to a single goal (for the second time this season) and that scored at the 20 minute mark of the last quarter.
Veteran Mick Hazell showed everyone who hadn’t seen him in his heyday what a magnificent ballgetter he is, he lead the Tiger on-ballers with hardness and ballskill and was simply irresistible in his passion to lift the premiership cup while in the pivot Sam Anstey again collected possessions at will and ran the lines tirelessly to set up scoring opportunities all day – what a pair of finals players
Ben Phibbs who had torn his ACL in the opening minutes of the corresponding game last year got just reward for his tenacity and single-minded hard work to overcome his injury with 2 big goals, plenty of hard-won footy and a premiership medallion for his efforts.
Again with the Mentone team, the best players would be most fairly represented as is often the case in the Under 9s – ‘a team effort’. This too sums up the season for St Bedes / Mentone Tigers, they have played as a team all year supported each other in success and defeat and ultimately showed that a champion team will so often beat a team of champions.
In the years to come, this grand achievement will often be talked about and we would expect that most conversations would begin with,,,,,an outstanding all round team, superbly coached, played for each other, attacked the football with blinding ferocity and without fear for their own safety, a number of outstanding players who blended seamlessly into the team ethic, a very watchable football team who never believed they were beaten…..the sort of team that we all (as football supporters) love to go and watch on any winter Saturday afternoon.
So an amazing season comes to an almost unimaginable close with St Bedes / Mentone Tigers rounding out with a third consecutive VAFA premiership cup in the seniors and a similar result with the U19s also winning their third consecutive premiership last weekend – there’s something special happening down at Brindisi St and something tells you they like the view from the top of the pile and have a passion, a focus, a vision and the level-headed management to stay there….Congratulations to a champion team.