St Bedes/Mentone Tigers demolished the hapless Old Trinity by 122 points at Brindisi Street on Saturday and in so doing maintained second place on the VAFA Premier Division ladder. The Tigers were sluggish out of the blocks as Trinity goaled early and worked the ball forward well until the home team slipped into gear with a brace of goals that totally took the initiative away from the lads from Bulleen and with Ben Phibbs in scintillating form and George Rowlands a marking target up forward the Tiges kicked 8 on the trot before Old Trinity were again able to trouble the scorer. The second continued in a similar manner as Simon Richards in a rich vein of form and Luke Terrell got onto everything in the midddle and Hiwad Shakaib and Anthony Scafidi mopped up the rest in the back half – Tigers by 11 goals at half time was a fair summary of the game. After half time, the Tigers took their game to another level as they moved the ball with great run and shared with teammates in a quality display of hard work and teamwork with first-gamer Pendlebury the Younger showing great composure with the football by both hand and foot and Gavin Brown adding to the Tigers’ midfield depth. With an 8 goal term the home team was showing signs of a very good side with quality ball movement, outstanding support running and the usual crunching tackling but I’d suggest we reserve that judgement until the same time next week…………….The 3/4 time margin of 98 points was indeed a fair indication of the gap between the two sides remembering that Old Trinity downed the Tigers comfortably earlier in the year at Bulleen and have been able to trouble all teams at various times during the year. In the last quarter, the Tigers refused to give the Green Men any latitude and wrapped up the day with a 5 goal to 1 quarter to extend the margin to 122 and give their supporters the taste of a truly comfortable victory.
•The Reserves were back on the winners’ list with a well-deserved 66 point victory while the U19s had a 31 point win and now take on Old Xaverians next week at Brindisi Street for the double chance.
•Next Saturday, the Seniors travel to Harry Trott Oval to face ladder-leader Collegians in a game vital to confirm their right to the invaluable double chance and an opportunity to see where they truly stand in comparison to the red hot premiership favourites.