St Bedes/ Mentone Tigers got off to a positive start to their VAFA Premier Division season with a solid 31 point victory over newly-promoted Old Haileybury at a blustery Brindisi Street on Saturday. After the long wait of Melbourne’s non-summer, the Tigers kicked against a strong, gusty 5 goal wind and worked exceptionally well into it to only trail by a point at the 25 minute mark before the Bloods whipped on the last two goals of the quarter to lead by a less-than-acceptable 13 points at the first break. In the second, the Mentone team pummelled the goals with Jack Hellier, Pat Liston and Luke Collins dominating around the ball, however, accuracy in the blustery conditions deserted them as they banged on 4 goals 10 while keeping Haileybury scoreless to take a mere 21 point lead into the long break after a half in which they had almost total control. The game warmed up after the break as St Bedes / Mentone Tigers continued to attack into the strong wind but the McKinnon team with some successful forward thrusts outscored the Tigers to trail by 15 points at the orange break. In the last as the breeze swung around and the rain blew in, the Tigers again burst forward and with continued outstanding contributions from Michael Wintle and Darcy Holden in attack and sturdy defence from Alex Kane and Dan Garside and extended the lead but were unable to completely finish off the Bloods as the conditions eventually prevailed and converted the contest into an old-fashioned slog. The Reserves had a very big 87 point win over Old Haileybury while the U19s were well-beaten in their first-up clash. Next week the Tigers journey to the Junction Oval to clash with an expected resurgent Old Melburnians who are reputed to have recruited very well over the summer while the U19s clash at Brindisi Street.