The first of a few beach road trips we have coming up saw us heading to play St. Bede's Mentone. Julian Darrer, Matthew Vlahos and Robert Follachio all joined the side off the back of some very good form in the 2's to cover a number of injuries we had. It is always a tough ask to go down to Mentone and we knew we were in for a challenge from the start. The odd shape of the oval and muddy centre took time to adjust to, and we struggled throughout the first half with short kicks and over use of the handball. We lacked run off our half back line, which for a side that prides itself on doing this was unusual. At the first break we held a slight lead and knew there was plenty of room for improvement.

The second quarter found us chasing our opponents, as St Bedes kicked truly and dominated the attacking wing. With no recognised ruckman available again, Ed Maas was asked to compete in there for us and did a great job all day. Luke Bisset was one of the dominant players on the ground, his ability to break the line with his speed was fantastic and drew special attention from the opposition players, coaches and supporters...not always as excited about it as his team-mates were. Louis Tiernan has produced a fantastic last month of football, he again responded to an SOS when he went on-ball where he played all day unchanged and was dominant around the stoppages. At the long break we trailed by 4 points.

The second half was a real arm-wrestle, both side giving everything in trying conditions. Our boy's endeavour could not be questioned, but it was our basic skills and decision making that let us down. Jack Amad through his body into every contest and James Woods owned his side of the ground, however in the end time got the better of us and we feel agonisingly short. Nick Biddlecombe's return after a long lay off was very promising; as he kicked three and showed glimpses of the white-hot form he was in before his lay off.

The remaining four games will be a great test for this group, starting with Uni Blues this weekend. A win will help put some distance between 5th and us. A match on Uni main is exciting for this group too, many of whom will go on to play many senior games for Old Xavs there in the future. It is vital we continue to improve as the business end of the season draws closer and closer.