Xavs too strong in opener

Old Xavs have taken the points in the opening round, proving too strong for SKOB Seniors at TH King on a glorious autmumn day. The result was the only bleak spot on an otherwise fantastic opening day with a huge crowd at the lunch, all staying to watch the game in brilliant sunshine. Xavs looked sharper all day and ran out worthy winners. In the earlier game, the Xavs Ressies kept the wood on SKOB for another meeting, winning a hard fought match as the crowd started to build at the King. The bright spot for SKOB was a big win to the Academy in the first game of the day. Down at Brighton our Saints Gold got off to a perfect start with a win over their hosts. Alas the Under 19 Premier team couldn't repeat the dose for SKOB in the twilight fixture at the same venue. Elsewhere we saw a brilliant match between the Stingers and Old Xavs with one point separating the teams at the final siren. Unfortunately it was Xavs who were in front at the final bell. The SKOB Dogs faced a big challenge against Uni Blacks and found them too strong on the day. On the road, our under 19 2 team went down to St Bedes whilst the 3rd U19 team lost to Caulfield. There was silver lining for SKOB with the Saints Green opening the season with a big win at West Brunswick. In all, it wasn't a great set of results for SKOB. Just the 3 wins from 10 games, but all players will be better for the run and it's great to have footy back.

In the Senior Match, the big crowd on hand were treated to a glorious autumn day and the footy didn't disappoint. SKOB struck first, but Xavs had the better of the quarter from there, kicking 3.5 and could have had a bigger lead at the first break. A late surge from SKOB saw them pull two goals back and things were even at the change. The second term was all Xavs. They were simply hungrier for the ball and cleaner at the contest as they made SKOB pay for every errant handball and missed kick. Xavs looked ready and SKOB looked like they needed the run. After half time, Xavs enjoyed more of the play again and though SKOB fought out well and hit the 3/4 time huddle with some momentum - the distance on the scoreboard was too great. A final term rally came and SKOB kicked a few goals to make it interesting but Xavs ran out deserved winners and took the important 4 points.

For Coach Lynch, the better contributors were Jack Mahony, Callum Jones, William Coates, Billy Bryan, Andrew Mathieson and Cam Hodges - whilst it was great to see no less than four players make their Senior debut. We welcome in Liam McKenna, Noah Walsh, Jacob Koschitzke and straight out of school, William Mazzeo. We look forward to them all making great contributions to SKOB in 2026

A New Era Begins at SKOBs

Our man on the ground - Yanni is back in 2026 and here's his first dispatch

SKOBs football is finally back, and it feels like Christmas morning. With twelve debutants and a brand-new coaching team, the boys arrived in high spirits, looking to put a stamp on last season's grand final heartache. New Head Coach Harry Long was quick to play down the idea that this was a grand final rematch.

The game kicked off with the SKOBs boys gaining ascendancy in the contest, spending the majority of the quarter in their forward half. They generated an abundance of scoring shots and forward entries but didn’t capitalise as much as they would have liked. Jack Romanin was immense with his ability to give the boys first use of the footy, while Jack Luscombe was a prominent target up forward, kicking the opening goal and helping the boys to a two-point lead at quarter time.

The second quarter began with the SKOBs boys continuing to win the contested possessions. Matthew Canning took an early Mark of the Year contender, and the boys maintained their scoreboard pressure, but again would rue their missed opportunities, finishing the quarter with one goal, seven behinds.

Coming into the second half, the boys were hoping to be more clinical in front of goal to reduce the three-goal deficit. The game became scrappy, and the contested possessions that the boys had been winning early began to swing the other way. However, they rallied strongly. William Tanner and Patrick Croagh (in his 100th game) were pillars in defence, and in combination with efficient ball movement and strength in the contest, the team produced their best passage of play, resulting in four goals for the half. Coach Long was pleased with the second-half performance, particularly given it was the squad’s first time playing together.

Despite not securing the result or the four points, there are plenty of positives to take away, especially considering the number of debutants in the side. The future looks bright for the SKOBs Reserves.

Saints get it done on the run

The Saints Gold kicked off the new regime of Jamie Pi in the best way possible with a tough win against newly promoted  Old Brighton down by the seaside. Leading narrowly for most of the game, the new look Saints with a bunch of handy recruits always had their opponents in check, although the twice reigning B Grade premiers showed plenty of pluck in their Premier debut, and will cause some headaches for opponents as the season goes on.

We also had some good news coming out of Magpie Park with the Green Dream reigning supreme over their West Brunswick opponents to send Coach Lewis back to lunch at the King boasting a 100% record for 2026. With trusty sidekick Tim Kehoe in tow, the “brain’s trust” were happily drinking in the spoils of victory, forever cognisant that it’s a long season ahead.  

Tough Road trip for Joeys

The Under 19s were all on the road and all facing tough opponents. Alas from a results perspective they went 0 and 3, but all played some good football at stages in their opening rounds and will take plenty of experience as they head home next weekend for a triple header at the King. 

The under 19 Premiers team before their clash at Old Brighton

A bit of everything in Thirdsville

In Thirds footy we had a solid mixed bag of the good, the even and the “ouch, look the other way” across the three grades. Slammin Sam Doyle tasted victory in his first game as coach of the Academy, easily accounting for OT’s in the opener at the King. At the same time over at Basil St we saw the SKOB Dogs get a nasty welcome to the higher grade. Coming up against Uni Blacks, they were outclassed in personnel, but never stopped battling hard all day. Finally we had the thirds match of the round. A high quality game of football between the Stingers and the Xavs Ménage’s saw the “away” team sneak home by the barest of margins. A tough pill to swallow for the Will and Jacko coaching crew, but the consensus amongst the fans was that these two teams will both be there at the pointy end of the season.

And so round one of season 2026 is in the book. Not a great one for SKOB but there’s a long, long way to go.