Saints will play with stars away
ST MARY’S co-coach Glenn Keast has praised his side’s ability to cope with mass player change after the Saints barely broke stride in a strong win over Grovedale.
The 57-point victory at Burdoo Reserve came largely thanks to Jarryd Garner, who continued his superb year with a haul of seven goals in a beston-ground performance.
Trent McMullan played the support role with four majors and made his way on to the highlights reel with a possible mark of the year contender.
But it was the way St Mary’s won, however, that pleased Keast the most, after his side had to adjust to life without VFL players Sam Dobson, Sam Siggins and Aiden Grace before losing defender Damien McMahon (hamstring) to injury.
“We had six changes, so it was a fairly different side to last week,” he said.
“It’s obviously something you never know how it’s going to pan out, but the guys have been used to changes each week.
“It was probably the biggest turnaround of talent from week-to-week that we’ve had, so we were pretty proud of how our boys reacted and controlled the game.”
While frustrating, Keast said having so many players listed at Geelong and Werribee was something the Saints would have to deal with at the pointy end of the season, with Geelong VFL’s side likely to feature in finals, too.
“It’s one of those things that we can’t control,” he said.
“It’s a week-to-week proposition and a lot depends on who’s available at AFL level and how that flows through.
“It’s important for us with five weeks left in the year that we get everyone structured up and playing the same way, regardless of who’s in the side.”
A five-goal-to-one opening term against Grovedale was a sign of things to come for the Saints, despite Tiger Matt Harvey continuing his impressive year.
St Mary’s extended its lead at every change before running out a comfortable winner.
On the horizon is a challenging proposition, with St Mary’s playing fellow top three sides Leopold and St Joseph’s in the coming weeks.
“The top three will be Leopold, Joeys and us — we’ve got to play both those sides in the next three weeks, so it’ll be a good hitout before finals to see where they’re at and where we’re at, and go from there,” Keast said.
JOEYS RUN RIOT
CURTIS McCarthy and Cameron Tudor dined out against Lara, kicking 13 goals between them as St Joseph’s made a statement in a 158point win. Down on form recently, Joeys tuned up with a 25.18 (168) to 1.4 (10) rout of the bottom-placed Cats. Daniel Weigl continued his hot run of form with another top performance for the Cats. Mathew Stokes was the only Lara player to kick a goal.
LIONS POUNCE EARLY
LEOPOLD’S top-liners rose to the top against Geelong West, with Billie Smedts kicking five goals and Tom Ruggles likely polling another three Mathieson Medal votes.
The Lions had the game in the bag by halftime at 62 points up, before cruising to the 19.15 (129) to 9.5 (59) win.
Joel Bennett continued to shine for the Giants.
The Lions remain a game clear on top of the ladder.
ANOTHER BAG FOR GARTH
BELL Park kicked into gear after halftime to shake a persistent North Shore, winning by 64 points at Windsor Park.
Dragons forward Jarrod Garth booted six and Jackson Sheringham showed why he is regarded as one of the better players in the GFL.
The Seagulls had four goals from Julian Dobosz and Jason Davenport’s class shone. Alex Riches was also impressive.