2 July - Victorian Amateur Football Association

DIVISION 2Jonno NashGOAL-DEN OPPORTUNITIESMother Nature took the umpires’ votes as R10quickly became a battle against the ragingelements. The wind shaped many of the resultslast weekend, particularly La Trobe’s inaccuratekicking and South Melbourne’s poor start.St John’s convincingly trampled ladder languishersAquinas by 88-points last weekend. For thesecond week in a row, Aquinas coach John LeGrand made seven “horses for courses” changes tobest match the second-placed St John’s. The JOCsfailed to capitalise on a much-favoured breezeduring the first quarter when they slipped a fivepointadvantage to the visitors. After a spiritedopening stanza, St John’s broke their opponentsaway despite influential efforts by Lachy Mac,Trent Harkin and Paul Flynn. A five-goal half-timeadvantage quickly spiraled into a comprehensivedefeat. Johns kicked thirteen goals to four afterthe main break with Rhys Dyker (four goals), GaryRoberts (four) and Dale Camm (three) contributingstrongly. Cory Ely was magnificent when the gamewas in the balance for the victors while TrentHarkin was the most valuable for the Bloods.Eltham swatted Emmaus St Leos’ pursuits of a topfour berth following their 16-point win at home.The mid-table clash between these finals aspiringsides saw the Turtle midfield dominant at theclearances, giving Tim Woods early opportunitiesin front of goal. The lead would change handsregularly up until the Turtles stuck their necks infront at half-time to lead by just nine-points. Theseesawed affair continued well into the third andfourth quarters. Emmaus’ Paul Baranello was theonly forward member to break through a reliableEltham backline with three goals as Phillip Careywas a very dangerous figure on the field. Tim‘Tiger’ Woods played his best game for Elthamwith a best afield performance.Regardless of a scoreless opening term, La TrobeUniversity chimed in for a merry dance aroundSt Mary’s Salesian to the tune of 48-points. LaTrobe will be using the wind as an excuse for theirwayward kicking. With 23 more scoring shots thatyour opposition, La Trobe were lenient on theiropposition, but missed on a vital percentageboosting opportunity. The partnership of StuartPatten (six goals) and Geremie Ganino’s (three)exposed Salesian’s backline despite keeping theiropponents relatively quiet in the first quarter. KarlShoenmaekers and Jos Op’T Hoog each kicked acouple in a consolidating outing for the home side.Tom Harding and Jack Atkin-Smith continuouslybroke the midfield lines and were most dangerousfor the reigning D3 premiers.Therry Penola took advantage of the whirly windsearly, kicking five unanswered goals in the first30-minutes of play. The shootout was decidedby which team could restrict the opposition tofewer goals when they had breeze. Nick Milevski(two goals) relished the unsustainable conditions,giving his forwards and co-midfielders Joel Quinn(three goals), Reynolds (two), Lyons (two), Costello(two) and Crotty (two) plenty of entries to convertto goals. Seb Mahoney built on his consistent yearand Adam Ray (three goals) performed the role ofa key forward perfectly.Glen Eira achieved the mission brief – thefour-points. It was top versus bottom and theundefeated Glen Eira was never going to slipupagainst the winless Old Westbourne. TheWild West went down by 86-points, a marginand performance that they would be somewhatpleased with giving Eira’s ability to win by greatTODAYSelections in BOLDAQUINAS v STH MELB DISTRICTSST MARY’S SALESIAN v ELTHAMOLD WESTBOURNE v LA TROBE UNIVERSITYTHERRY PENOLA v ST JOHNSEMMAUS ST LEOS v GLEN EIRA10 THE AMATEUR FOOTBALLER 2011SPORTS INJURY CASUALTY - 316 Malvern Road, Prahran