August 9, 2025
STUCK!
Week 16 provides little momentum
A Century of the Red & Black
A huge weekend . . . The Premier Thirds and both U23 teams are through to the Grand Final.
The Crocs and Ménages done for the year after semi-final losses.
WOX and U19 Twos seasons over. Seniors, Ressies roll on. U19 Premier beat De La.
Another victory for the Red 'n' Blacks, who stared down adversity to secure the points against Collegians at the Trott.
Kicking to the city end, Collegians opened with a goal at 6 minutes.
It took that long again for Wade Brusnahan to get things underway for the Red ‘n’ Blacks, and six minutes elapsed again before Big Ed Delany marked well and booted a long one.
Collegians booted their second goal after a puzzling decision, and pulled within a point. When the Lions attacked again, they missed. Will Goss boomed the kick-in and found Denis Symeopoulos streaming through the middle. The Sizzling Souvlaki punted it forward and a nice gather, side-step and handpass from Delany opened the goal square, and Jack O’Sullivan ran in with the Sherrin and goaled.
Delany soon found himself on the end of another chain of possessions. He marked in the pocket, was collected late, received a 50-metrepenalty and banged it through. At quarter time, the Red ‘n’ Blacks led by adozen.
Collegians went forward with purpose and kicked a long goalat four minutes. At ten minutes, Collegians wrested back the lead. Xavs hadn’tgone forward in the quarter. They did from the bounce. Alec Spralja belted it forward,Westcott was tackled high and then Charlie MacIsaac was scragged off the ball andgoaled from 25 metres. Two minutes later, King Charlie was freed in front ofthe scoreboard and his kick split the centre. But Collegians responded directfrom the restart. Seventeen minutes in, Xavs by four points. At 24 minutes,Collegians hit the front again, and might have gone another six points aheadfrom the restart. At 28 minutes, that’s exactly what they did. From therestart, Xavs rolled forward for just the third time for the quarter, but theshot went wide. They did venture forward again, but the siren beat them.
Xavs dominated the third term and had all the play. However,converting this relentless attack to the scoreboard proved problematic. Theoccasional minor score was little reward. Finally, into time-on, C MacIsaac slipped a grubber through the middle to tie the scores. Both teams added behinds and they went to the lemons knotted.
Given that only four of the fourteen goals had come at theFitzroy Street end, and that the visitors were already running on half aninterchange bench, the Purples would have been the bookmakers’ firm favourite.
Xavs rolled forward from the start and at 90 seconds, Sammy Hansen snapped a beauty from the boundary line. The next score came at 16 minutes, a behind that followed a quarter of an hour of scoreless Collegians attack. But then the Lions rebounded and kicked a goal. A point the difference.Then two points, as Xavs’ brilliant move forward just went wide. The Lakers couldn’tclear, Tex Wanganeen marked and goaled. And hobbled off as they entered time-on. Collegians attacked, but pushed it wide. They went forward again, butthe X-Men turned them back, again and again.
At 27 minutes, an opportunity for the X-Men to seal it went begging. At 31 minutes, a Collegians free and a goal. The Lions went in again, but the Xavs repelled. And again, but the siren sounded.
Beating a lowly team is an expected result, but this one, when they were short-handed and below their best, and in levelling conditions, was a sound result. Hayden Woodhouse was magnificent in the ruck in the second half and many takeaways resulted from his tap work. O'Sullivan was lively, as was Delany, particularly early. Symeopoulos had a good game and when the game was there to be won in the final term, he came into his own.
So now it's back home for the final two home and away clashes against both University teams.
BEST: Hayden Woodhouse, Jack O’Sullivan, Campbell Lane, Charlie Knott, Denis Symeopoulos, Connor Dunne
GOALS: Charlie MacIsaac 3, Ed Delany 2, Wade Brusnahan 1, Sam Hansen 1, Jack O’Sullivan 1, Tex Wanganeen 1
De La Salle (42) were over-run by Old Brighton (108) at Dairy Bell.
Old Haileybury (51) dropped another home game, this time to St Kevins (81).
Old Scotch (87) broke Snow Dog hearts at Camberwell when they clipped St Bernard’s (65).
Uni Blacks (54) went down to Uni Blues (83).
Bernards likely now need to win both to stay in Premier section ahead of Collegians or Uni Blues.
Uni Blacks need to win both to replace the Bloods in the four, and Old Haileybury would need to lose twice.
Collegians were on the wrong end of another towelling as the undisputed premiership favourites rode again, winning the contest at Harry Trott by 130 points.
It was a wire-to-wire clobbering as the powerful Red ‘n’ Blacks turned on another mesmerising four quarter effort.
Julian Gangi resumed the top form he had been enjoying when called away and big Jack Boyd collected five goals in the big win.
Next week, the Twos will meet Uni Blues, who are 12-4 with a percentage of nearly 167. That is a solid effort from a team that has been a big rival over the years.
This performance, however, also serves to draw attention to the X-Men, who are 16-0, with a percentage almost exactly double that of Blues.
The Xaverians have:
- won half of its games by 99 points or more
- won 56 of the 64 quarters it has played
- trailed at QT three times, at HT twice, and at 3QT once, with one tie.
- lost three first terms, four second terms, no third terms, and only one final quarter
This dominance, many will say, is because most clubs have weak Reserves teams. That is true. The top four (OX, STK, Uni Blues and Old Brighton are all 150+) and the rest are below 100 (four teams well below)
Uni Blues played the Xavs closer than anyone this year, so next week will be a big test.
BEST: Julian Gangi, Liam Danielis-Morley, Matt Exell, Dan Tuddenham, Charles Holmes, Hamish Bowen
GOALS: Jack Boyd 5, Matt Exell 4, Harrison Bell 2, Harry Bird 2, Oscar Duncan 2, Julian Gangi 2, Nicholas Brown 1, Tommy McRae 1, Ben Scala 1, Hayden Troiani 1, Dan Tuddenham 1
The WOX farewelled their season with a Friday night tussle with St Bede’s Mentone Tigers. The Brindisi Street ground looked a treat as the two teams fought it out, with the home team holding out for the win.
Molly McCarthy was best for the Red 'n' Blacks and Chiara Chiarelli scored a brace in the low-scoring affair.
BEST: Molly McCarthy, Mel Clarke, Alessandra Libertone, Melissa Poulton, Zoe Purcell, Jess Slupecki
GOALS: Chiara Chiarelli 2, Mel Clarke 1, Annabel Gangi 1, Monique Menilli 1
The U19s survived a strong last term effort from De La Salle to get the points at Dairy Bell.
Locked at 18 apiece at the half, both teams opened it out after the long break. Xavs had the better of the third term with five goals, and did enough in the last to beat their old rival.
BEST:
GOALS:
Uni Blacks put the Under 19 Twos the sword to at Stradbroke Park, ending the Red ‘n’ Blacks season.
BEST: Dante Scalisi, Charlie Hummerston, Max Lightbody, Nicholas Klimidis, Tom Senyard, Blake Nixon
Scores, pics and details on Monday morning.
BEST:
GOALS:
St Bernard’s defeated the Crocodiles by nine points in the Premier Thirds first-semi final at Stradbroke Park. In a low scoring affair,the Emerald Hose were never in front, and their season comes to a sudden halt. The large Lizards must lick their wounds and then get behind the other Xaverian teams to cheer them across the line.
The Crocs had met St Bernard’s twice during the year. In Round 7, the Reptiles had beaten the Snow Dogs by 10 points at Stradbroke Park, but in late July, Bernies had smacked the Xavs out at West Essendon.
On this cold Kew morning, Bernards kicked the first two of the game before Nick Harries opened the X-Men’s account at 18 minutes. Just five points separated them at the first change.
They traded goals in the second. The visitors struck first again, before Josh Lyon replied. The Pitters kicked their second of the quarter and then Lyon did likewise. Bernies looked the more dangerous team late in the piece. They managed three shots, all of which missed, but then with just two minutes left, they snagged a goal to take them 13 points clear. With conditions as they were, and goals at a premium even on the short ground, any longer leash on the Snow Dogs might have proved dangerous.
The players returned after what seemed a quick half-time break. Two and a half minutes into the action, Lyon nailed his third. Defences were clearly on top as the team traded minor scores. At 15 minutes, however, the visitors nailed another shot, and the margin was back out for the third time to 13 points. Bernies missed again.
The pressure was mounting on the home team, who hadn’t had their noses in front all game, and had been closer than a goal just once. At 20 minutes, Nick Harries slotted his second, restoring some momentum for the Reptiles. They went to the lemons, with the final huddle and then 25 minutes of elimination football facing the two teams. Bernies were eight points to the good.
The last quarter was another even affair after Bernies again scored first. It took 16 minutes for the Xavs to respond through Eythan Chiodo. The Crocs found themselves seven points down with seven minutes to play. But the Snow Dogs were in no mood to concede. In fact, they had three more shots themselves to Xavs’ one. All of them missed, but the Pitters went home with what they came for, a ticket to next week.
BEST:
GOALS: Josh Lyon 3, Nick Harries 2, Eythan Chiodo 1
The Menages fell to St Kevin's in their cut-throat first semi final and their season is done.
Conditions and a tight SKOB lineup managed to shut down the Red 'n' Blacks' rhythm and regular avenues to goal. Defences from both teams held firm, particularly in the final term when there wasn't a goal scored at either end. Xavs had four shots to two in the last quarter tussle, and will rue they didn;t land just one of them.
BEST: Kieran Ellis, John Kenny, Tom Paul, Cooper McLean, Xavier Romanin-Green, Thomas Beaton
GOALS: Cooper McLean 2, Thomas Beaton 1, Rory Calvert 1, Will Honan 1, Will Mantesso 1
Paul Connors' and Andrew McLaughlin's boys are through to the Grand Final after a stirring win over Old Trinity.
The redoubtable Frankie O'Callaghan led the charge with six goals to break open a game that was goal for goal for goal in the first half.
Xavs' best quarter was its third, and they did enough in the last too to hold off a desperate Old Trinity.
Connor Briscoe was best afield, not for the first time when the pressure was on, and he had plenty of help in an effort that produced the required result.
BEST: Connor Briscoe, Samuel Casserly, Francis O’Callaghan, Will Troy, Sam Noonan, Edward Logan
GOALS: Francis O’Callaghan 6, Connor Briscoe 1, Jack Forde 1, Oliver Sheehan 1, Jack Shirley 1, Oscar Smart 1, Will Troy 1
Old Xaverians defeated Fitzroy by two points in a nail-biting second semi-final tussle at Lucas Oval. The T-Birds outlasted the Lions, who had kept it close all day.
The X-Men led by a goal at the lemons, but the Lions drew level with 15 minutes to play. Seven minutes later, Xavs missed twice, but then with just over four minutes to play, went eight points ahead.
The Roys kicked another with two minutes left to play to close the margin to two points. But that was it. The Red ‘n Blacks can sit back and wait for the winner of next week’s contest between the Roys and Old Carey.
BEST: Sam Landrigan, James Mccarthy, Benjamin Sherman, Will Beattie, Luke Fares, Nicky Tyrrell
GOALS: Benjamin Sherman 2, Patrick Gilmour 1, Conor O'Brien 1, Connor Spears 1
