St Bedes/ Mentone Tigers start to the season came down with a thud in windy conditions at the Beach Oval with a 25 point loss to Old Brighton in their VAFA Premier B clash, following their resounding opening round victory over Fitzroy. Kicking with a 4 goal breeze in the first the Tigers, after conceding the first goal, got moving and with George Rowland playing a quarter ‘out of the box’ and Josh Cowan roaming wide and in everything, had the better of the Brighton team but were only able to show a 20 point margin at the first break. With the breeze at their back Old Brighton made little impression on the scoreboard and trailed St Bedes by16 points past the 20 minute mark of the quarter but with hard running and smart forward play then banged on 6 unanswered goals in the ensuing 12 minutes to lead by 18 points at the half. At the start of the second half the Tonners quickly took the initiative and got the first 2 goals into the breeze before the Mentone team took control and began to overrun the home team but ineffective use of the footy in the forward half saw them squander opportunities in kicking the next 3 goals 6 before the Demons struck back with the last 2 goals of the quarter. Facing the same 18 point deficit as at half time, the Tiger team had a battle on its hands and initially responded with aplomb – with James Tyquin running carrying and delivering, Brayden O’Toole tireless in the ruck and around the contest and Michael Barnes with hard two-way running – scored the first 3 goals of the quarter to take the lead by the slimmest margin on two occasions only to have old Brighton respond with another multiple-goal salvo to ultimately finish with a well-deserved 25 point victory. The Development Team had a very strong win over the Brighton locals by 40 points with Ben Nicoll and Sam D’Andrea the best in a very good all round team effort with Matthew Caia snaring another 3. The Thirds started their season with a hard-fought loss to Monash Blues while the Under 19s had an outstanding win by 104 points against last year’s premiers Caulfield Grammarians with Mitch Johnstone and James Mangoni again prominent. The second Under 19 team performed admirably against the strong St Bernard’s but were eventually pipped by 17 points after leading for all of the first half. The Seniors and Development Team take on undefeated Old Scotch in the traditional ANZAC Day clash on Monday week in front of what is expected to be a big Fortress Brindisi crowd while the Thirds travel to Old Carey and the Under 19s are at home to Old Brighton and away to Williamstown CYMS respectively.