With the ladder leaders away, this week was our acid test.  A chance to finally see where we were at against a genuine contender and the question was asked - would we step up or would we fade away?  Our team was strong, we welcomed back the likes of Burne, Flegs & Smith and ventured out to Springvale Rd hungry for the taste of Mazenod blood.

The day began miserably weather wise, but our warm up was strong and the boys were prepared – albeit without any strapping tape due to a D Prowse clanger.  So we stepped out and began with a bang – we had all the play in the tough conditions and had their backs under siege.  Our endeavour was brilliant but we struggled to convert and in an eerie similarity to last week, Mazenod had a goal for each forward 50 entry.  But we went into the quarter time break with the lead and were playing good footy.

But as the second quarter began, the rain came with it.  As tough as it was out there, it was the ugliest brand of football I have witnessed.  The ongoing scrum made Rugby Union look exciting but when the ball trickled out of bounds and Joe Rush could not pick up the bar of soap, we finally felt some empathy for the lads.  Unfortunately, Mazenod had the advantage of getting the ball inside their 50 early and with the longest kick of the day standing at 5-10m, it stayed in there for the rest of the quarter.  Our backs were under siege but held their ground and withstood the onslaught.  Nick Meehan was given the job of stopping their highly touted full forward and gave the man a cold bath, as he was yet to touch the pill.

So at half time we were spent, but knew we had more to give.  We called for a lift and encouraged some smarter wet weather footy, which up to that point we had lacked.  We were gallant early, but the game was slipping away from us as Mazenod took a 17 point lead mid way through the 3rd term.  In this weather, 3 goals were as good as 10 and right as the game seemed out of reach something strange happened.  Whether it was the arrival of the slug on the boundary we were not sure, but it certainly correlated with a lift in our intensity.  The last 10 minutes of the quarter were superb – Ralphy, Bull, Hasan & Curtis all started rallying through the middle and Don & Vlahos began to ignite down forward.  All of a sudden we were back in the hunt and with a Smith mark and goal from 60 out on the siren, the game was ours for the taking.

So with the game there to be won, we needed someone to step up and grab it with both hands.  Enter M Vlahos – the electric small forward looked Mazenod in the eyes and said ‘my time is now’.  With 4 goals in the last quarter in a game where we only kicked 9 he near enough won the game off his own boot.  Aided by guys like Darrer, Dents, Macca and Meehan down back who refused to concede a goal we moved into 5th gear and looked unbeatable.  To come from 17 points down and withhold an early barrage, we showed we can win from anywhere.  We have now set the bar, if we can keep it up then we will bulldoze all who attempt to stand in front of us.