Old Carey V St Bedes/Mentone Tigers
With a number of changes to the line up, St Bedes/Mentone Tigers travelled to Bulleen to take on Old Carey on the expanses of the Dunshea oval. Notables inclusions were Sam “Sloth” Nichols, Damien “Spanky” Waters and Mark “Good Looking” Geshke who delighted his fans with a sharp haircut. As expected, the ground was wet but in good nick given the recent precipitation.
The opening 10 minutes of the first quarter was an arm wrestle with the Tigers managing only minor scores. The Doherty brothers (Tim and Steve), who were even harder to tell apart in the conditions, were in everything early and kept the cake of soap moving SBMT’s way. Carey opened their account first but a good finish from Mark Geshke and a great rover’s goal from Chris Mangoni saw the Tigers take back the lead. Cameron Hansen looked dangerous and it wasn’t long before he booted the Tigers third. Swingman Paul “Rat” Wintle moved forward and, after the siren, drilled through the Tigers 4th to take a 14 point lead at the first break.
The second quarter opened much like the first; another arm wrestle with neither side able to make an impact on the scoreboard. Sam Nicholls was giving Luke Wintle a great helping hand with ruck duties and Tom Garside, Dean Porter and Hiwad Shakib were running a tight ship down back. Michael Curcio got on the end of a delightfully timed tap from Paul Wintle to spear through the Tigers only goal of the quarter. Carey also managed a single for the quarter and the teams went to the shed with the Tigers holding a 16 point lead. So far, it had been an old fashioned wet day scrap.
Resuming from the main break, Tigers captain Simon Richards booted a torpedo over back over the full backs head and Peter McGettigan chimed in for the Tigers 7th. Tim Doherty was constantly launching the Tigers back into attack and once again Cameron Hansen found just enough space to kick the Tigers 8th. The defence had kept Carey goalless for the quarter and the 33 point lead looked like it was enough.
To their credit, Old Carey dug deep in the last and outscored the Tigers 2.2 to only a few behinds in the final term. But the damaged had been done earlier in the day and Tigers sang the song on the back of their 22 point win.
It would be remiss not to note what great hosts Old Carey are and take this opportunity to wish President Paul Newton and all of the Old Carey Football Club the very best.
The Reserves just couldn’t find a way to score often enough and fell 15 points short of Old Carey.
The U19 Red (Premier) boys were out swum by St Bernards out at Essendon and the U19 Blue (South) team had a comfortable win over Hampton Rovers.