St Bedes/ Mentone Tigers ended their home-and-away season in VAFA Premier B in second position with 13 wins and 5 losses. On Saturday, the Tigers play top team and long-time premiership favourite Beaumaris in the Second Semi Final on Saturday at 2.00 p.m. at Trevor Barker Oval, Sandringham. St Bedes recovered from a slow start to the season, when they were 2 wins and 2 losses early on, by winning the next 7 games including wins against all three of the other finalists (Monash Blues and Old Scotch – both away and Beaumaris at home) before rounding off their season winning 11 of the last 14 games. Beaumaris have been the premiership favourites in Premier B since early in the pre-season when they recruited St Kilda AFL duo Stephen Milne and Adam Schneider and remain the bookies hot favourite to return to Premier Division after only one year in the lower grade after being undefeated at the half-way point of the season and topping the Premier B ladder for most of the year. The Tigers with 10 new faces in their senior squad have built their season, as players familiarised with each other’s playing style, and have become a very strong unit as the season has progressed winning a handful of very close games and coming from behind when the pressure was on on a number of occasions. Their tackling pressure and willingness to scrap has been a feature of their best wins during the home-and-away season whilst their evenness as a team (not at any stage relying on key individuals) has been on obvious strength. The Development Team, having finished third, play in the 1st Semi Final against Parkdale on Sunday at 11.30 a.m. at Trevor Barker Oval, Sandringham This team has had a very topsy-turvy season with injuries and players’ travel commitments impacting the side at various times. However, a positive trait has been that invariably after a poor performance the team has fought back with outstanding mental toughness in subsequent weeks. This Sunday with a full list to pick from and the finals atmosphere in the air a strong showing is expected from a team fully capable of pushing deep into September. The Under 19s after a fine season finished fourth and played last season’s premiers Caulfield Grammarians in the First Semi Final and went down by 23 points after a feisty showing. Congratulations to first-year coach Adrian Lane and a group of young men who played their hearts out all season. The Under 19 Development Team also finished fourth and played Mazenod and lost by 27 points. Again, congrats to first-year coach Dylan Cousins and his team who did the club proud all year. Having chosen to field 2 Under 19 teams this year, the club can be only too pleased to have figured in finals in both sides and developed a level of camaraderie that is infectious – let’s hope all of these young men continue their football at St Bedes/Mentone Tigers and encourage their mates to join them at our club.