The St Bedes/Mentone Tigers Under 19 South side had a very successful season under the guidance and “watchful eye” of Michael McGettigan in his first year of Coaching.

With the initial “make up” of the Under 19 South Team at the beginning of the season, we had a real “mixed bag” of Players. Some were playing in their second year of Under 19’s; some Players had joined our club from elsewhere; and others had come up from the Under 17’s from last year. The majority of these guys had never played football together in the same side.

After a fairly “colourful” start to year with some on-field indiscretions and some players, at times, showing a lack of discipline on the ground, it kept Michael
(our Coach) and myself on “our toes”.

However, we knew right from the outset that if these guys actually concentrated on playing footy, we had the makings of a very good competitive side.

As we had two Under 19 teams this year at St Bedes / Mentone Tigers with one being in the Premier Division and the other being in the South Division, there was plenty of opportunities for the Players to be given an opportunity to play up in the Premier team. We had probably 6 or so Players who continued to drift up and down between both teams throughout the season. It was one thing to be given the opportunity to play up in the Premier team, but you needed to play consistently well to hold your position.

By the end of the 2013 Home & Away season, the Under 19 South side had won
13 games with 5 losses. With the teams producing victories at the right time throughout the season, the boys managed to finish second on the ladder after the Home & Away season which gave us the “double chance” to play off in the
Grand Final.

In the first week of the finals, we were up against the ladder leaders Oakleigh.
As the top side, they had also earned the right to “host” a Home Final.
Well, after a 14 goal “drubbing” by Oakleigh, the boys licked their wounds after tasting the pressure and tempo of finals football. They all realised what it was going take to “bounce back” in the Preliminary Final against Beaumaris.

The Preliminary Final was played at Trevor Barker Oval. It was a really hard fought and exciting contest against Beaumaris. We managed to “hang on” by a goal at the final siren. The score was St Bedes / Mentone Tigers 8 10 58 defeated Beaumaris
7 10 52

We now had earned the right to have another “crack” at Oakleigh in the Grand Final also played at Trevor Barker Oval. We knew that we were very much the “underdogs” in this match but all the boys went into the game knowing that we had nothing to lose and everything to gain!

It was once again a really hard fought “spirited” match with both team showing excellent skills and hardness at the ball. The match was tightly contested with
St Bedes/Mentone Tigers leading by a goal just prior to half time.
However, in the final quarter, Oakleigh showed why they had finished on the top of the ladder with their relentless strong tackling, pressure and hardness at the football. The final score was Oakleigh 14 11 95 to St Bedes / Mentone Tigers 10 6 66.

In summarising, it really was a great season of football and I am personally very proud of all our Players in the Under 19 South team in what they had actually achieved this year. They had all shown great improvement in their football, as well as their maturity both on and off the ground. As the majority of these guys will go up into Senior football next, it put the club in a great position for season 2014.