The senior side outgunned last year’s fellow Grand Finalist Collegians in a keenly-contested affair at Albert Park on Saturday.
In a scrappy opening the Tigers, with Brendan Neville on the wing starring and in every contest, moved out to a 16 point lead by quarter time.
The second quarter continued in the same vein as Collegians fought unsuccessfully to erase the memory of their two September finals defeats at the hands of the Tigers but like all good teams the Tiger outfit steadfastly refused to concede.
After half time the Tigers began to assert themselves and, with Paul Groves Sam Anstey and Tim Mavric providing the drive and Paul Wintle leading the defence, the writing was on the wall for the Wesley team at the orange break.
In the final stanza the Mentone team lifted their urgency and, as has become their trademark, finished off superbly with an 8.3 blast to win going away by 53 points and re-affirm their ascendency over the ladder-leader of 2008.
The Tigers’ Reserves lost a close tussle by 8 points after leading early while the Club XVIII and U19s both had good wins.
Next week the Tiges play the under-rated University Blues at VAFA headquarters at Elsternwick Park in what should prove to be a tight one with Blues currently sitting in fifth place after a very competitive start to their season against all of the leading teams.