July 18, 2026
R12: VILLAGE PEOPLE FOUR FROM FOUR
Ménages abandoned.
A Century of the Red & Black
Both U19 wins had great wins, the Reserves and WOX Twos did too. But the Ones and the WOX Ones took a beating.
Uni Blues came to Toorak Park yesterday and went home with the four premiership points and the Carmody Cup after ripping holes in the Red 'n' Blacks' defence and shutting down the home team's ample scoring options.
Plenty went wrong for the X-Men, though they still had more disposals, more uncontested possessions, more handballs and more marks. They split clearances with the visitors but Blues won the parts of the game that hurt: contested ball, intercept possessions, deep inside 50s, and tackles, and turnover control.
The most damaging stat was the score from turnover. Xavs scored a creditable 8.4.52 from turnovers, but Blues scored 12.8.80. That is a 28-point gap in a 39-point game. Blues did not just defend Xavs’ ball movement — they punished it. They also won the stoppage scoreboard 4.4.28 to 2.5.17, even though clearances were line-ball.
The forward-entry difference is also stark. Xavs had 49 inside 50s and Blues had 55, so the territory gap was not huge, but Blues fashioned 21 deep inside 50s to just 12 and subsequently converted far better. From shallow inside 50s alone, Blues kicked 10.3.63 to Xavs’ 5.6.36. Blues’ entries were cleaner, deeper, better supported at ground level, and Xavs’ defensive structure was stretched once the ball came in.
Blues’ pressure was superb. They won tackles 70-61, midfield tackles 48-39, and forward-50 tackles 10-6. Xavs actually had one more effective tackle, so it wasn’t a lack of work, but Blues applied pressure in better parts of the ground and forced more damaging errors. Their overall team-involvement total was also higher, 153 to 135, which indicates a side that was hunting in numbers. The Red 'n' Blacks actually shaded their opponent in effective disposals by a percentage point, but this was because they handballed more and did it well. Blues belted Xavs by 5 points in kicking efficiency as the home team fell from a league-leading 60 per cent to an ordinary 52 per cent.
Sam Fisher was huge for the X-Men 34 disposals, 20 contested possessions, 16 hit-outs, five clearances, two inside 50s and three goals. Marcus Stavrou had 21 disposals and five clearances. So Xavs had winners — and a number of others registered high disposal counts, but didn't do enough with the ball. Alwyn Davey was lively and battled hard, while Tommy Dunne and Hayden Woodhouse were the pick of a defensive unit that was under pressure all day.
Despite the home team having a higher disposal efficency, Blues broke the chains before they really threatened, making Xavs’ possession less dangerous, then punished the turnovers. Xavs had enough ball to be in the game, but Blues won the contest edge, defended/intercepted better, went deeper inside 50, and converted pressure into scoreboard damage. It was a very good Blues plan, executed well, and shrank the Toorak Park spaces considerably.
As it transpired, the margin in the Senior game was the same as in the Reserves, but with the results reversed.
There's little doubt that Blues will be in this premiership race until very late. Xavs will need to lick their wounds and be ready for their visit to the Snakepit. A desperate St Bernard's awaits, and a team whose long win streak has been broken is very often vulnerable.
At Moonga Road, St Kevin's (90) survived a gripping encounter with Caulfield (87) when they booted four goals in time-one to take the points. The home woes for Old Brighton (47) continued when they lost to Old Scotch (82). After trailing for much of the day, Old Haileybury (109) booted three goals in five minutes in the middle of the final term to wrest the points from Old Trinity (104) at Parc des Princes. Under the spires, Uni Blacks (91) beat St Bernard's (70) after shrugging off a strong Snow Dog challenge.
Next week, R13: Blacks @ Caulfield, Brighton @ Trinity, Haileybury @ Blues, St Kevin's @ Scotch, Xavs @ Bernies.
Old Xaverians clipped Uni Blues with a solid performance at Toorak Park and opened up a one game gap at the top of the ladder. Blues Twos had beaten Xavs twice onend, once late in last year’s minor round and again in R5 of this season, sothe visitors were understandably confident about doing the hat-trick.
Harry Warfegoaled for the Red ‘n Blacks early in the first term but the tussle remained tight until Kye Walford and Ted Kennedy majored for the home team too. Blues got on the board with a late one to reduce the quarter time margin to 18 points.
The Varsity drew closer early in the second stanza with the first goal, but the X-Menstruck mid-term with Warfe and Matty Exell drawing twin calicos, and as theclock ticked inside four minutes remaining, Warfe snagged his third. But again, Blues had the final say and they went to the half with the margin at 26 points.
The routinefor the past few seasons with this Xavs team has usually been to set themselvesup in the first half, then cash in big time after the long break. This day,there was no real expectation of that happening. Blues are a talented team whoseem destined to go deep into the finals, and the Red ‘n’ Blacks expected a challenge rather than a capitulation and that's what occurred.
However, the second half was more a stand-off than a shootout, with only nine goals scored between the two teams.
Hugh Basset was a strong performer in the middle of the park, while Jack Kennedy continued the good form that he displayed on his return last week. Harry Warfe was the pick of the forward line with four, while Bailey Whelan and the Senator claimed five between them.
A short-handed WOX had few answers for an in-form Port Melbourne team, who steamrolled their way to a 44 point win. The Red 'n' Blacks, currently fourth, have four games left, three of which are against stronger teams, to press their way into the finals.
Another big win for the WOX Twos, who sit in fourth with four games to play. Again, Gabby Golds' team was short of the full complement, but nonetheless was impressive.
The Red 'n' Blacks push into second spot, and now have a real shot at a top-two spot. Their form of late has been impressive.
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An inaccurate Xavs team put a new stake in the ground when it came from behind to knock over the top-ranked Bullants.
