Meanwhile in Thirdsville....

Just the three games for the threes this weekend as most divisions took a second week's hiatus. There were wins for the Academy ("ugly") and SKOB Dogs ("bigly"), but the Stingers couldn't quite complete the trifecta as they went under to Xavs at the 'rak.

Report below...

The Academy had to fight hard to secure the four points in their match at Camberwell Sportsground. Our man on the ground captured the action in his report.

A little like the Anzac Day matches, the recent history of Academy v Scotchies matches have never reflected relative ladder positions such is the intensity and closeness of the match. Saturday’s edition was no different. 

Losing the toss the young SKOBs we quickly aware they were in a contest being forced to defend into a 5 goal wind. Showing poise and a strong footballing IQ they out-worked the Cardinals and went into quarter time only 6 points down which counted as a win. Charlie Pammer was busy early, raking up the stats with intelligent use of the pill.

After the mini break the flood gates opened and goals rained galore. The blustery conditions made for a mixed spectacle – missed kicks aplenty as dropping a ball 4 inches to the boot cleanly was proving challenging. These errors balanced out by goals kicked from outside the 60m range.  Ball, Mazzeo showed their class setting up plenty. At the main break the young SKOBs went into the sheds 40 points the better, alas minus Pammer who was dumped behind play after a clearance. The resultant relayed free kick resulted in another Academy goal but it did nothing for a broken collar bone that would see him out of the game.

40 points up? Game, set and matc……

Not quite so quickly! With the Scotchies again kicking with the wind and boasting a mid-field headed by Doug Lawrence, who last year was busy with the VAFA Representative team, the SKOB Academy quickly learnt the folly and putting cue prematurely in the rack having turned a 40 point margin into a 3 point deficit. A slightly exasperated coach Ollie reminded the players what made them so good an hour ago was completely absent in the previous 25 minutes.

Showing a sense of alarm and shock seen during the week on a Coldplay Plasmatron the Academy boys got back to work and re-asserted themselves into the contest. Home grown work machines Garry Mulch and Michael Naughton lead the way. Getting up to 3 goals out the game was still in the balance when Max Mulch intercepted a wayword Scotch kick and booted one through to settle the matter. The siren a welcome relief for a scrappy and ugly game. Asked afterwards assistant coach Robson was philosophical ‘We’ll take an ugly win over a pretty loss everytime. Sometimes you just have to find a way…’

The win still sees the Academy parked outside the 4, albeit corrupted by the inclusion of a bye. With a bye and 2 games to close out the season one more win should see the Academy part of the post season action.

Best players for the Academy: Jack Ball, Lucas Mascia, Luke Mazzeo, Harry Mulcahy, Michael Naughton, Joshua Bedier

Stingers stung

Zach Close, Noah Montague, Julian Chaffey, Anthony Parente, Pat Harmon, Otis Trail

Dogs feast on Vultures

No less than 13 SKOB Dogs hit the scoreboard on Saturday (6 of them multiple times) in a feast at the King. Best of the hounds were Roshan Fernandes, Josh Bayley, Alexander Smith, Billy Branagan, Henry Jones and Thomas Buultjens