Cricket
Racing
Rugby
League
Motorsport
Football
Golf
Combat Sports
Basketball
Tennis
Other Sports
Sport Nation
VAFA William Buck Premier Men's Round 4 Review
Jason Bennett • May 5th, 2025 4:46 pm
The Bloods square their ledger; Tonners top the table - William Buck Premier Men's Round 4 in Review
Old Haileybury continued their promising return to Premier Men’s with an impressive wire-to-wire win over University Blacks at Princes Park.
The Bloods controlled the football, racking up 86 more disposals – predominantly handballs – as they shared it around and linked up effectively.
Turnovers cost Blacks dearly, as they conceded 8 goals to 3, while the Bloods also found a way to repeatedly convert throw-ins into goals, slotting 4 for the afternoon.
Ultimately, Old Haileybury’s finishing efficiency proved to be the difference. They booted 11.2 in the first half to lead by 45 points at half-time and, from there, managed to control the game as they cruised to their second win of the season.
Andreas Stefanakis and Cody Goonewardene finished with 3 goals apiece for the victors, while Jake Gasparini hit the 40-disposal mark (with 14 Contested, 9 tackles and 8 clearances).
Olli Hotton also dominated with 37 disposals (18 Contested, 6 tackles and 9 clearances) on a productive day for the Bloods, who bounced back superbly after last week’s disappointing fadeout against Xavs.
Daniel Ward (Old Haileybury): “Overall, a pleasing performance against a side who we respect greatly and are always well prepared. In the second quarter, we got our ball movement to a level we’re trying to achieve and kicked 7.2.
“Credit to Blacks, who lifted their effort in the second half as the game became a bit of a scrap.
“We’re looking forward to welcoming De La Salle to Princes Park for the GF rematch this week.”
Dale Bower (Uni Blacks): “We were outplayed by Old Haileybury in the first half and, in particular, the second quarter.
“We still have plenty to work on and will look to respond with a far better performance next week.”
Old Brighton came from behind to overpower St Kevin’s and defend their one-game lead atop the table.
It was a tight, low-scoring struggle all day at a typically breezy Brighton Beach Oval. The home team led by a point at the first change and 10 at the main break, as both teams tried to get the ball to the offensive side of the ground when kicking with the wind, as the defensive team worked just as hard to prevent that.
A stunning individual performance from former OG Sam Barnett saw SKOB power to the lead in the third term as he booted 3 of his team’s 5 goals for the term, as they opened up a handy 13-point advantage at the last change.
Marcel Bruin implored his Tonners outfit to open the game up, and they responded with the first 3 goals of the final quarter to hit the front at the 17-minute mark when Jamie Hope got out the back on a quick counterattack.
SKOB regained the lead 3 minutes later via a composed set-shot from second-gamer Tom Ferguson – his first senior goal for the club.
Scores were levelled by a spillage off a marking contest at the 26-minute mark, before Felix Flockart (the SKINS Player of the Game) duplicated the heroics of brother Sam in last year’s Second Semi by coming up with the winning goal to sink St Kevin’s.
Chopped in a marking contest in the right forward pocket, he went back from 40 metres out on a tight angle and slotted the winner at the 28-minute mark.
Old Brighton posting their 12th straight win at Fortress Brighton after another nailbiter over St Kevin’s – the final margin 7 points – making it a combined margin of just 26 points from their last 6 clashes!
Sam Barnett was the standout forward on the ground, finishing with 5 goals, while Tom Fisher and Luca Macnab combined for 58 disposals for the Tonners.
Marcel Bruin (Old Brighton): “What a contest, both teams didn’t give an inch. Tough, contested game that was close all day. We both had share of the momentum and ascendancy for patches throughout the game, but scoring was difficult with defence the feature.
“Coming into the last quarter we challenged our group to take the game on and inject some speed, which they did a great job of.”
Anthony Lynch (St Kevin’s): “Our 2 clubs match up really well and are creating some sort of history of close finishes, and these are the games we want to not only play in but perform well in.
“Brighton have again proved a challenge to take the 4 points off at home. I thought they were the better-performed team over the four quarters, but we certainly had our opportunities to win.
“We take a lot of learnings out of the game, and I can never question our boys’ effort. We just need to tidy up some parts of our games to allow us to be winning those games against the very best teams.”
Round 4’s other thriller was at Harry Trott Oval as St Bernard’s continued their impressive start to 2025 with a gritty 7-point win over Collegians.
The opening term was a high-scoring, free-flowing shootout, with a combined 11 goals giving the Snowdogs a 6-point quarter-time lead, before the game tightened a little in the second – the Lions booting 3 goals to 2 to lead by the barest possible margin at the main break.
The home team threatened to open the game up with the first two goals of the third term, before the Dogs responded with two in a minute, and the arm-wrestle continued – Collegians by 3 points at the last change.
The Lions struck first in the final term with a Dylan Thomas goal to get out to a 10-point lead, but two close-range goals from Ben Huggard put the resilient Snowdogs back in front before the hosts seized the lead again, courtesy of Alex Lukic’s 4th goal 16 minutes in.
However, the visitors refused to yield, reclaiming a 1-point lead via a Charlie Vague opportunist goal at the 22-minute mark, before Luke Di Lizio’s courageous pack mark and 30-metre set shot sealed it for St Bernard’s.
Matthew Watson booted 5 goals for the winners, while Alex Lukic slotted 4 for the Lions as the Snowdogs successfully navigated a tricky opening month by winning all 3 away games to be beautifully placed at 3-1, while the Lions slip to 1-3, with some work to do to keep in touch.
Steve Alessio (St Bernard’s): “It was a fantastic contest all day with both teams unwilling to give up. In the end, it was a matter of who could hang in there longest.
“We were determined to keep the early momentum of our season going. Now we face a red hot, in-form Old Xavs team - a great opportunity to find out where we are with our development as a team.”
Jordie McKenzie (Collegians): “They were able to get out of the blocks with a sharp start. Bernard’s outworked us and gave Watson and co plenty of good looks up forward.
“Our second and third quarters were much better, where we were able to wrestle back the momentum with some good contest work and transition.
“Our last quarter was very disappointing. Bernards once again outworked us, and they were able to stand tall in some big pivotal moments.”
Old Xaverians made a huge statement by rolling into Camberwell Sportsground and rolling over reigning premiers Old Scotch with a blistering second-half.
The Cardinals had the better of the opening term, booting 4.4 to 1.2 to lead by 20 points at the first break, before Xavs got rolling and responded with a 5-goal second quarter that levelled the scores at the half.
But just as a thriller looked on the cards, the visitors took complete control, booting four unanswered goals in the third term, followed by a withering final term that saw Xavs slam on an incredible 9.2 to 0.2.
In the end, the Cards were held to just 4 behinds after the main break as Xavs careered away with 18 goals to 2 after quarter time to score an eye-catching 81-point win after a mind-blowing 101-point turnaround in just three quarters of footy.
Turnovers destroyed Old Scotch, who conceded a whopping 11.6 to 2.7 from Turnovers, as the Xavs’ attack feasted on the supply, taking 16 Marks Inside 50 to just 2 by the Cards.
Stirling Phipps-Parsons finished with 6 goals, while Sam Fisher (29 disposals & 9 clearances) and Marcus Stavrou (26 disposals & 9 clearances) won plenty of the football.
Charlie Cormack worked tirelessly down back for Old Scotch, finishing with 34 disposals and 9 Rebound 50s.
Dan Donati (Old Xavs): “Old Scotch got the early jump on us with their intensity and ball movement difficult to stop in the first. It was a hot footy early, and it took us a while to find the tempo. Once we did, we managed to get things on our terms to draw level at half time.
“Obviously, the second half was outstanding from our perspective. I thought defensively we held up super, our pressure and tackling were great, and to get reward on the scoreboard this week was really pleasing.
“Understanding of Scotch’s personnel challenges at the minute, but full credit to my boys with how we ran out another game.”
Mark Gnatt (Old Scotch): “It was a tale of two halves for us, and our best was very good early on, with some of our new faces hitting the scoreboard.
“However, there was a bit of a reality check in the second half where the experience of Xavs broke the game open. They were able to intercept the ball with relative ease in our back half, and then their ability to spread and open up the ground was very good.
“Our structure broke down, and with the inexperience of our group - I think it’s 8 players with less than 5 senior matches to their name - there was a lot to learn.
“On a positive note, fourth-gamer Jake Torney did a brilliant job on Campbell Lane, keeping him to 12 disposals and collecting 15 himself.”
The final game of Round 4 was at Melbourne Uni Oval as University Blues hosted De La Salle.
The Blues have been riding the rollercoaster in the opening rounds, with a tight loss followed by a tight win, then a 6-goal loss to the Blacks, who are equally as inconsistent.
And when De La led throughout the entire first half, despite the Blues dominating territory, it appeared that Matt Smith’s men might be in for another frustrating afternoon.
However, they responded with a much-improved third term that saw them power to the front, booting 5 goals to 1 to take control on the scoreboard as De La were left to lament lax defensive work around the stoppages, which enabled the Blues to capitalise with 4 second-half goals.
Goals to Charlie Furphy and Charlie Cotter in the final term put the result beyond doubt, as the Blues squared their ledger at 2-2, leaving De La Salle still hunting their first win. They will head to Old Haileybury for the 2024 Premier B Grand Final rematch even more determined to collect the 4 points.
First-year player Darcy Chirgwin racked up another 44 touches for the winners (15 Contested and 7 Clearances), while Mitch Lloyd collected 32.
Ryan O’Meara was busy for De La with 34 disposals and 11 Rebound 50s, while Tom Filipovic continued his good form around the contest with 28 touches.
Matt Smith (Uni Blues): “Another slow start wasn’t the ideal way to get going and we seemed off the boil a bit for the first half, mainly with poor skill execution. Their first few goals came directly from our turnovers in their Forward 50.
“Second half looked a lot more like the style we want to play, although we were wasteful in front of goal.
“A step in the right direction, with plenty of improvement still to be found.”
Nick Hyland (De La Salle): “I thought we controlled the game in the first half. We defended the ground the best we have all year and moved the ball well for the majority of it. We just let ourselves down with the last ball going inside 50, which meant we didn’t quite get bang for buck on the scoreboard.
“A one-goal to five third quarter proved the difference. Our intensity dropped, and we didn’t defend the ground well. Credit to the opposition who made us pay. From there, we were chasing the game and couldn’t reel them in.
“Proud of our young group’s effort. Playing three young debutants and having another in his second game was great exposure for them. No doubt a fantastic learning opportunity against experienced senior bodies.
“Again, we’ve shown improvement from week to week. The challenge is to sustain the effort and intensity for four quarters against quality opposition. Plenty of positives to take into the week ahead, as we look forward to taking on Old Haileybury.”
WILLIAM BUCK PREMIER MEN’S – ROUND 5
SATURDAY MAY 10 (2pm):
Old Haileybury vs De La Salle SEN MOTD – 1.45pm on VAFA.com.au & SEN app
Old Brighton vs Old Scotch KOMMUNITY TV DOUBLE-HEADER from 11.35am
St Bernard’s vs Old Xaverians VAFA.com.au LIVE STREAM – 1.55pm
St Kevin’s vs University Blues
University Blacks vs Collegians
Image credit: BRUCE TOBIN
