Having escaped the lions den with 4 points last week the SKOB Seniors succumbed to the perils of the Snakepit on Saturday, beaten convincingly by an impressive St Bernards outfit. The Ressies followed up last week's breakthrough with a strong win over the Bernies. At TH King it was Pride round and a big performance from the Saints Gold saw them prevail over their close rivals Kew to reclaim the Pride Cup. The Saints Blue battled with great energy but couldn't get past Kew, however the Saints Green kept living the dream with a win over the West Brunswick Magpies. In the thirds we had success on the road for the Academy and the Stingers grinding out wins. Coach Ollie's boys crashing through for their first victory of the season. In the junior ranks, our Under 19's had a triple header at Righetti with the 19's Premier fighting back to record an important win over St Bede's - reversing the result for the 19 2's against the same opposition - whilst the 19 3's came up against another very strong opponent in De La.
Pitfall
The JOC O'Connor Cup was on the line as SKOB ventured out to St Bernards for a resumption in their long time battle for the silverware - first played in 1998. Gone are the days when a trip to the Snakepit required long boot stops and mud repellant (whatever that is) These days the strip out at St Bernards is first class and the green top prepared by the hosts was as close to billiard table like you could get. With a friendly pre-game function out of the way, the sides locked in for what promised to be an entertaining spectacle.
Despite having a few chances early, SKOB could not find the magic in front of the big sticks until late in the first quarter - courtesy of a clever piece of play from Harry Wardlaw - by which time the Snowdogs had already posted three majors.
It was a better showing in the second term and a half as SKOB managed to get reward for their efforts. Zane Greenham, the latest Under 19 player - and one of 7 in the team - was looking lively up forward booting his first goal at senior level after nicely sharking a pack. The Bernies were able to keep finding answers, but SKOB drew to within a kick half way through the third term on the back of an Ollie Gill goal - alas from then on it was all St Bernards
The home team stepped up the pressure and kicked 8 of the next 10 goals to draw right away from a tiring SKOB. Coach Lynch has brought a lot of youth through the early rounds with great success and they will no doubt draw much needed experience from playing at this level, but St Bernards were too strong on the day and ran out deserved winners, taking the JOC O'Connor Cup and bragging rights with them.
On another glorious autumn afternoon, travelling fans were enthusiastic in their support and saw good performances from the likes of Billy Galimberti, Elliot Mahoney, Bill Coates, Jack Andriske, Liam Walters and Nick Sing
After two weeks on the road, the Seniors will be happy to head back home to the King next week and will set themselves for another big task against Old Melburnians.
 Ressies get back to back wins.
Our man on the ground Yanni was at the Pit to compile his report:
"Heading into the ANZAC round with St Bernards, the SKOBs Reserves were in high spirits off last week's win as the boys looked to solidify their momentum.
The boys sparked into gear early in the first quarter, generating streamlined transitions coast to coast. Thomas Williams found mark after mark, leading to goals scored by Billy Bryan and Andrew Butler.
The scoring dried up in the second quarter; however, the backline didn’t shy away from getting physical in the contest, and the midfield really stood up. Finding clearances from the stoppages helped the SKOB’s boys maintain their slender lead.
In the third quarter, the boys played their brand of footy; there was fast ball movement, good clearance work which led to plenty of scoring shots. However, the boys were left wondering what the scoreline could have been.
The final term began with the boys really flexing their muscle; the forward half pressure was immense, locking the ball in and leaving the game with a twenty-one-point win.
Overall, the SKOB’s boys were satisfied with a full four-quarter performance.
Best Players: Hamish Reimers, Thomas Feehan, Luke Mazzeo, Andrew Butler, Daniel Aplin, Christian Woolrich.
Success for Academy/ Stingers make it four from four
The Academy team have broken through for their first win of the season and hopefully the first of many more to come. Heading over to Fitzroy, the Academy lads were deep in hipsterville and desperate to break their duck. A good start saw them hit the huddle with a 4.1 term behind them and they doubled down for the same score in the second.
Knowing they were on a good thing, they booted a further 4.1 in the third term, establishing a match winning lead that - despite the late fightback from the hosts - was never seriously threatened. Big hauls of 4 from Willmott and Dietze with Max Mulcahy (3 goals) providing great support meant there were plenty of options going into attack. Harrison Trotter, Jack Romanin, Max Mulcahy, Flynn McCallum, Liam Foo and Jack Liszukiewicz were the main drivers for the Academy in their first success. Well done boys.
A trip over the Westgate for the Stingers saw them return with another precious four points following a hard fought victory over a gallant Willy CY's. The match was a shootout with both teams piling on the six pointers at will in the first half. Coming out of the sheds for the second half, the Stingers blasted the game wide open booting 6 goals to 1 to break out to a winning lead, with a couple more snags in the last holding off Willy seeing them improve to 4-0 for the season. Best for the Stingers were Julian Chaffey, James Fabbro, Jesse Battistella, Otis Trail, Cooper Lanyon and Tommy Whelan
Pride on time for Saints
The biggest day on the Saints calendar arrived early this season with the Annual Pride round played at TH King on an absolute peach perfect day. The Saints could not have asked for better weather to put on three games of high quality football. In the main game, SKOB were up against Kew. In just their short history the two clubs have developed a strong and highly competitive rivalry.
With Kew taking home the Pride Cup last season, the Saints were out to avenge that defeat and primed to take it back. Jess Joyce (who always saves her best for this fixture), Zara Guss, Emily Condon, Jessica Cox and Bree Doyle were leading from the front, and together SKOB were firing on all cylinders. The Saints stingy defence held Kew goalless until the last quarter while up front Sarah Cameron with 3 goals again showed why she is such a dangerous weapon in the forward line.
Coach Tommy looked as sharp as the Saints with his get up, and the boisterous crowd were cheering hard all day and giving lots of life and colour to the spectacle. The Saints Gold are unbeaten so far in 2024 and have never looked hungrier.
The Blues kept pace early with their Kew opponents and opportunities were hard to come by in the beginning stages of their match. Kew were able to steady at key moments through the middle terms and although SKOB got going in the last quarter, they had left the run just a little too late. The Blues are finding new players each week and the cohesiveness is beginning to show for Coach Strauss. That first win can't be too far off. Best for the Blues were Asha Turner Funk, Brooklyn Perry, Lucy Kehoe, Alice Straford, Caroline Straford and Ainsley Rintala-Apps
Coach Mikayla was back in charge of the Green Machine and it was business as usual as the Saints kicked off Pride Round in the best way possible. A solid win over friendly rivals the West Brunswick Magpies gave plenty of reason to smile for the dreamers who are having a great start to the season. The Saints had Steph Taylor, Jess Mounas (3 goals), Charley Lupson, Rachael Wilson, Lucia Bancovich and Alice Buffham to thank most amongst a bunch of great contributors, with the crowd roaring their support from early Saturday morning.
No colts getting away from Old Rigret
A big day for the 19’s at Old Rigret with all three teams competing on the spiritual home of SKOB - Righetti Oval. The 19 Premier boys needed to dig deep to overcome a tight St Bede’s combination who took the game on in the first half and hit the sheds with a solid lead at the main break. With a number of their chargers deservedly pushing up into the Senior Men’s team, Coaches Longy and Greeny needed to dig deep into their list to find the next batch to step up. The Beders were showing a clean pair of heels, stealing out to a 15 point advantage, but in the second half it was the likes of Liam Edwards, Seb Duffy (6 goals) and George Delimitrou who helped lift SKOB and see them boot 8 goals to 2 in a dominant second half to reel in and then take the game away from the visitors. Sam Mazza chipped in with 2 goals and SKOB were well assisted by Xavier Duke, Oscar White and Ben Cantwell amongst others.
It was an entertaining game in the U19 2’s match where the opponents were also St Bedes. Only a goal in it at half time, the visitors were able to lift in the third, and although SKOB kept with them as best they could, the Beders were able to find the answers and keep their hosts at bay, going on to record a deserved victory. For Coaches Jacko and Krusher, Gus Simpfendorfer, Francis Mancini, Will Batchelor, Dan Deguara, Henry James and Aidan Posterino all played well. In the Under 19 3’s our boys once again had to combat a seconds team and in this instance found De La Salle too strong for them. They fought the game out well - managing to boot a few goals in the final term - and showed endeavour right to the finish - mostly displayed by Dante Pettinella, Lachie Manning, Max Cann, Matisse Kerr, Val Scopelliti and Joel McMahen
