St Kevin’s OB bounced back from last week’s loss to Collegians with a 28-point victory over De La Salle at the King. Just one goal was kicked in a slow-starting opening term, before SKOB kicked eight goals to six through the second and third, ultimately proving the difference. They were inaccurate in front of goal with 11.17 but it mattered little as they kept De La to 8.7. Billy Kanakis continued his standout form in front of goals with four, while Gerard Gleeson and Mitch Brown found plenty of the ball.
In other round nine fixtures, SKOB found the going tough, with the SKOB Masters, (make sure you read another fine edition of the Masters Match Report), Thirds Gold and the SKOB Saints the only sides to record victories.
The Queen's Birthday weekend provides players with a chance to rest some battle weary bodies and for the coaches, time to assess the first half of the year and what they need to do to ensure a successful second part of the season.
FROM THE PRESIDENT
It was a mixed round for SKOB based on results over the weekend. The Seniors rebounded well on Saturday beating off a strong De La Salle side by 28 points. The Saints comprehensively beat Old Xaverians and the Thirds Gold team the top of the ladder Old Xavs Red team. Whilst other results went against us – without doubt the club sits in a happy place overall.
We are fortunate to have a strong, engaged and inclusive community.
Indigenous Round
We celebrated indigenous round last weekend and last week.
Thanks to JP Whitbread for organising our special guest speaker Kyle Vander Kuyp for the pre game lunch. Kyle was self-effacing, poignant, interesting and abolutely relevant to the theme of the round. We were all touched and educated by his comments.
Thanks also to Tom Purcell for his efforts in organising the post training indigenous dance and didgeridoo playing for the group over dinner on Thursday night. Michael Naawi and Corey Atkinson did a great job and were at the Saints game on Sunday as well. Thanks also for the Nulla Nulla’s that were won (for best on ground in the Seniors and Saints) co incidentally by Gerard and Margaret Gleeson.
Thanks to Daniel Kennedy for organising the Indigenous flag to be flying and to be painted on the wing of TH King.
Pre game lunch
We had a very well attended lunch where we learned a bit more about our respected neighbours and Catholic cousins from De La Salle. Most interesting was the fact that their club was formed by a fellow (Jim Hawkins) who played at SKOB; De La played their first year in the VAFA on the second oval at St Kevin’s College and they have enjoyed great success over a sustained period. As a respected opponent with a long history – they lived up to their history and were a hard and tough opponent for both Seniors and Reserves.
Anthony Molan remembered
Post game at the seniors we took the opportunity to remember Anthony Molan. Anthony passed away after a Clubbies game between SKOB and De La in 2003. Anthony Molan's father Chris played 48 games at SKOB in the Seniors and his uncle Maurie played 118 games and was a SKOB Captain and Treasurer.
Anthony went to De La but there is a strong family connection to SKOB that we were keen to honour. The Molan Cup stayed with SKOB after the Seniors win.
Volunteers.
Kim Whelan. As our Doctor for the Seniors group – Kim has been one of the most valuable volunteers at the club. Always with a smile on his face and keen to help – we are indeed blessed to have him around the club. Parents and players alike should be thankful for his presence, skill and diligence.
Pat Di Natale. Pat is always helping the club in whatever way he can. If he is not assisting the coaching of the Under 19’s, he is behind the bar or (as he was on Sunday) – going above and beyond by running water for the Saints.
Special Mentions
Thanks to Charlie Ring for agreeing to back up for a second game on Saturday. After playing in the Thirds Gold team Charlie agreed to play in the Seconds to fill a spot following a late withdrawal. Support for all other teams is a part of being part of a club. In the same way as Co Senior coach Tom Williams was at the Saints game on Sunday – it is a great sign of unity when support is shown for other teams. Thanks.
AROUND THE GROUNDS IN PREMIER
Old Melburnians entered the William Buck Premier top four after they recorded their third win from four games, defeating Old Trinity by 65 points at Elsternwick Park.
Collegians put a one-game buffer between themselves and Old Brighton with an 18-point victory over the Tonners at Brighton Beach Oval. Both sides remain second and third on the ladder respectively, with the Tonners two games clear of OMs in fourth.
Old Xaverians registered a much-needed victory as they defeated University Blues by 52 points at Toorak Park. Xavs held a 16-point lead at half time before exploding out of the main break with 10 goals to four in the second half.
Five goals to two in the fourth term allowed Old Scotch to claim their second win in a row, defeating St Bedes/Mentone Tigers by 18 points at Brindisi St Oval. The win puts a one-game buffer between Scotch (9th) and the Tigers (10th) on the ladder.
BILLY KANAKIS 100 GAMES
SKOB congratulates Billy Kanakis, who played his 100th game against De La Salle. Billy joined SKOBs in 2013, after a successful football career at SKC where he was a member of both the 2011 and 2012 APS Premiership sides. Billy started with the Under 19s but quickly gained promotion to the Seniors in his first year. He represented the VAFA Under 19 side in 2014. He was Runner-Up in the Senior B & F Award in 2016 and was a member of 2017 A Grade Premiership side.
More to come.....
SKOBBERS & SAINTS STILL IN FRAME FOR BIG V SELECTION
Gerard Gleeson, Billy Kanakis, Mitchell Brown, Nick Wood, Sam Critchley, Thomas Jok and William Coates will be vying for Big V selection this Thursday, as the Big V is set to tackle the Adelaide Footy League over the Queen's Birthday Long Weekend.
SKOB Saints Eliza Straford, Ellie McLinden, Margaret Gleeson and Sarah Cameron are our girls still in contention to represent the Big V.
The squads will be finalised after Thursday's training session, with the final team of 22 announced at the jumper presentation on Thursday night.
History will be made this coming weekend when both the women’s and men’s sides travel together for the first time and face off with the Adelaide Footy League at Aldi Arena (Thebarton Oval). The women’s game kicks off at 1:10pm and the men’s at 3pm.
SKOB MASTERS 2018 – ROUND 5 MATCH REPORT
by John “Foges” Fogarty
Today’s adventure took the Masters’ out beyond the Ernst Wanke Road bridge into the deepest reaches of Salopek country to play the Magpies of Narre Warren. On the trip out to a land where ride on mowers are a must and you have to go through Hallam back just to get here, my mind drifted to the sage writings of Oscar Wilde and his advice about the importance of being Earnest – and I couldn’t help but wonder that’s even more so when your surname is Wanke.
But enough of that guff – we had an important engagement of our own – that being a match against last year’s finalist (and most likely this year’s too) Narre Warren. This scribe was on time for once having watched his mighty Tiges take the sword to the Bombers the previous night (and being one of the few who stayed until the end of the game…). Being on time meant that I got to hear the pre-match tunes from the beatbox of Shark Makohon - and that was my first regret. Opening with some thought provoking lyrical content from the Gunners “Civil War” - even though this was not exactly North v South (more likely South East v South South East East) our resident DJ then launched into some Johnny Farnham – good grief! Not for the first time heard at a Masters’ game was the utterance – “that guy should really think about retiring”. Still the rooms were abuzz with the highly anticipated return of the Conquistador and also some bloke called Vioce – which was either a misspelling on the whiteboard from a sleep deprived coach or the name of the newly appointed Italian Prime Minister. The sign above the rooms indicated that this was for the “Visitors”. Not sure why they had it in quotation marks as I was pretty sure we were the visitors, but the home team’s rooms also had the quotation marks for the so called “Narre Warren’s”.
So, on with the game. Captain Ben “no-one fools me” Marchesani correctly picked the right hand of the umpire who had made little effort to disguise which hand he was holding the whistle in even when challenged – “is that my right or your right?” – and SKOB kicked to the City end (which is drawing a 45km long bow) favoured by a very slight breeze. With a healthy bench of four, SKOB were well equipped to tackle the home team who seemed to have a cast of thousands on their pine. From the opening bounce and in bright sunshine SKOB were in control. Michael “What’s the” McCullough “of money” was like a craft brewery barman delivering delicious taps to the thirsty mob of on-ballers who constantly bombarded the ball into our attacking 50. To their credit the Narre Warren boys were defending hard and making in-roads was tough – even on this magnificent wide expanse of a ground. Frankie Four Fingers was prowling across half forward like a jewel thief planning a heist, whilst Chichie Campagna was always at his feet like a minister at a born-again baptism ritual. Jake “I am an” Ireland proved he was anything but, not only driving a couple of teammates out to the ground, but then sharing and caring the load and showing that he could navigate the traffic of Kalora Park as deftly as he could the M1.
With all these entries something had to give and soon enough Matt “back to the long sleeves” Lucas found himself in space with 3 open targets inside the goal square. Had there only been two men open he might have had a shot, but on this occasion opted to pick out Ray “get out of my way” Short who marked and kicked our first. We managed to kick another couple in the quarter, but most of our attacks ended with shots that were sprayed all over the place like a crop duster in neighbouring Heatherton – and as such we didn’t quite have the score board ticking as much as we’d like. The backline meantime was very happy with the progress of the scoreboard for the opposition given that it was double donuts for the entire quarter. Yes, with lockdowns like Sharknado Mako and his trusty sidekick Sharknicko Halloran, there wasn’t a lot of joy for the Narre men – at least those that were lucky to get past the rock solid half back line of Wayne “Cagey” Cornell, Christian “by name Meat Axe by reputation” Strauss and Nick Trenfield “Saddler” – who like Al Pacino in Scent of a Woman was playing an absolute blinder.
The home team are a resilient lot out here on their patch and they duly came back into the game in the second quarter. Playing their pinpoint style, they started to find their way through the SKOB defence and soon had a score. The game was a lot more even through this quarter and the next and the SKOB masters needed to work doubly hard. Filthy Phil Cameron was looking dangerous up forward and was filthy over a pair of chances that just fell short. We were also a bit stiff to have a couple of goals overturned by decisions that left a few scratching their heads. One or two SKOB boys smelled conspiracy theory and were about to launch their own Narre Warren commission before the siren went to signal half time and cool heads could be restored. The important thing was that we hadn’t lost any of our early lead and more of the same was the request from Coach Rock at half time.
Without Frank “the Tank” Marchesani on hand to correctly measure out the cordial to water ratio the mix in the halftime Kool Aid was dialled up to 11 and as such SKOB were hit with a massive sugar rush. This was fine at first as they burst out of the rooms and blasted two quick goals including a Gareth Bale like scissor kick from Stoney Roses who was clearly benefiting from dilated pupils in the murky cloud cover that had enveloped the park at half time. Unfortunately, as any parent of a youngster can affirm, the sugar highs can only last so long, and suddenly SKOB were looking lethargic. The home team seized on this and started to nail their chances. They put through three goals for the quarter and at the final change had crept to within 18 points. Suddenly, memories of our last trip out to Narre Warren in 2017 where we let a big lead slip and were overrun in the second half were flooding back through the brains trusts heads.
At the final change the healthy bench that SKOB had enjoyed for the game was looking a little shaky with Benny “Burrito” Hughes sporting a dead leg and Pete “a Tribe called” Conquest carrying a Zaharakis shoulder, but the coaching staff had a few tricks up their sleeve. Posting Dave “Rigatoni” Sheehy into the guts to start romancing with Ricky “Dancing” Caldow, the two started having bigger clearances than Harvey Norman, and with Shark Makohon now positioned to the wing driving in dangerous pills of poison to the likes of Jay Mac and Stoneage Romeo – the Narre Warren defenders were succumbing to the terror that only a horror movie called Sharknado could deliver. SKOB were now on fire but with one last effort, the home team pressed forward and a pin point pass to a leading forward looked like it was going to be gobbled up until the flying fist out of seemingly nowhere by “Rubber Man” O’Halloran sent the ball back and led to another SKOB goal. It was play of the day and with the luxury of a solid lead Patty “Sermon” Mount who was a rock in defence was able to shift forward and take a few unpaid marks. Whilst all this was going on Matt “Del” Shannon was having a day out. He was so elusive all over the park that his opponent was heard humming “Runaway” (oh dear…that’s a REAL oldie). With the final play of the day, he banged home a little give from the skipper to make it 9 goals to SKOB for the quarter.
And so the fossils were able to run away with a comprehensive victory in the end and consolidate their spot on the ladder. The theme song was sung with much gusto in the rooms after the game although one young fan who covered her ears throughout was less than impressed by our rendition. GO SKOB
Final Scores SKOB MASTERS 3.4 4.6 6.8 15.9.99 NARRE WARREN 0.0 1.2 4.2 4.3.27
Goal Kickers: Matt Stonehouse 6, Matt Shannon 4, Ray Short 2, Frank Carlucci 2, Matthieu Lucas 1.
Best Players: Matt Shannon, David Sheehy, Matt Stonehouse, Matthieu Lucas, Nick Trenfield, David Makohon, Ben Marchesani.
SPONSOR FOCUS: Jellis Craig
Without our generous sponsors we would struggle to survive as a club or the cost of player subscriptions would have to be substantially higher.
Jellis Craig are a tremendous sponsor of our club.
For more than 25 years Jellis Craig has provided support to numerous local schools, community groups and sporting clubs in the area. Their sponsorship of the St Kevin's Old Boys Football Club (SKOBFC) is an excellent example their ongoing commitment to the local community.
Jellis Craig is proud to be supporting SKOBFC, assisting the club with the purchasing of equipment, development, coaching, uniforms and much more.
Above and beyond their sponsorship support, they aim to be active members of the SKOBFC community. Jellis Craig local sales agents, St Kevin’s College parents and past students Steven Abbott, Jonathon O’Donoghue, Simon O’Donoghue and Andrew Macmillan look forward to enjoying the season with you and are committed to supporting the club on as many match days as possible, also attending various clubs events throughout the year.
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If you have a property to sell please make sure that you at least let them pitch for your business.
If you or any family of friend are in Boroondara (or surrounds) or know Steven Abbott (0407 324 240) or Jonathan O’Donoghue (0412 745 707) – please reach out. If you are in Stonnington (or surrounds) or know Andrew McMillan (0418 142 252) or Andrew McCann (0414 643 744) – call either of them.
