St Bedes/ Mentone Tigers commenced the second half of the home-and-away season in fine style on Saturday with a 70 point win against newly-developed rivals of the last decade Old Scotch, away at Camberwell. In-so-doing the Tigers replaced the Cardinals in second place on the Premier B ladder and set up a mouth-watering top-of the-table clash with previously-undisputed ladder-leader Beaumaris at Fortress Brindisi on Saturday.
The Tigers came out-of the-blocks with the first two goals of the quarter only for Old Scotch to steady and take the initiative back with the next 3 goals through hard running and excellent ball movement and the afternoon seemed set for a battle similar to their memorable ANZAC Day clash earlier in the season, however, the young Tigers had other ideas and through strong ruckwork from debutant Mitch Kent and hard and tough midfield tacking the Mentone team regained control and steadily built their lead to 18 points at the short break.
As expected, the second quarter was an arm-wrestle as the Cardinals sought to take advantage of the slight breeze and the visitors refused to give an inch to turn at the half with a 27 point lead.
After the long break, St Bede’s continued their attack on the ball and the ball-carrier (remarkably reminiscent of Mentone teams of the recent past who carry with them the legendary aura of success) to the point where the Camberwell team hurried every possession and the Tigers in response took full advantage and, with Pat Tyquin getting plenty of the football and using it superbly, the Tiger forwards in particular Luke Vellutto started to dominate and as a result St Bedes took a 62 point lead into the orange break .
In the last, the Tigers backline, led by a dominant Jaryd Robertson (after a best-on-ground performance in the VAFA representative side the previous weekend) and Darcy Holden regaining his form of previous years, repelled everything as the Mentone team continued harassing, tackling and dominating the home team and Tom Tyquin through the midfield and Michael Barnes in a clear best-on-ground performance rounded out a fine display of team-oriented football against a strong opponent who is a clear contender.
This St Bedes/Mentone Tigers team is now starting to gel as a team and playing some football that supporters love to come and watch on a winter’s Saturday afternoon but it is still quite early in a long season and the proof of their ambitions will be shown over coming weeks as we see whether they can maintain, or indeed improve on, their development as a group playing team-first football which has been the defining attribute of successful Mentone teams of the recent past who have played a brand of high-pressure, physical football that historically VAFA opponents at all levels have struggled to cope with and preferred not to confront.
The Development Team were thoroughly outplayed the undefeated ladder-leaders Old Scotch while the Thirds worked hard all day against PEGS at Southern Road only to eventually go down by 18 points.
The Under 19s continued their winning way with a 50 point win over old Trinity while the Under 19 Development Team extended their winning streak with an 80 point victory over Aquinas.
Next Saturday the Seniors and Development Team take on Beaumaris and the Thirds Therry Penola Old Boys at The Fortress in a triple header, another local derby with top spot on the Premier B ladder to play for……the Under 19s re-aquaint themselves with Fitzroy at Fitzroy while the Under 19s Development Team travel to Parkside for their biggest assignment in the last 6 weeks.