St Mary’s all but cemented its place at the top of the GFL ladder with a home win against Newtown & Chilwell, defeating the visitors 11.13 (79) to 9.8 (62).
League leaders St Mary’s sit two games clear of second-placed Colac, both teams having just two games still to play in the home and away season.
St Mary’s pounced early in the first quarter to take the lead and hold it for the whole game despite constant challenges from the Eagles, who got within four points during the final term.
Key defender Ryley Hall, returning from a hamstring injury to play his first senior game for the club since round 11, was best on ground for the home side, while youngsters Keidan Rayner, Josh Sorgiovanni and Harry McMahon continued to impress.
St Mary’s co-coach Travis Robertson said his side was at its best when the players worked as a unit.
“I think the beauty of our side this year has been that, while you’ve always got your so-called ‘better’ players, we play our best when we get an even spread of contribution,” he said.
“We were able to start well and put the opposition under pressure early, but we weren’t at any point far enough in front to think the game was done until late in the last quarter.
“But the boys have been training for being put under pressure and we were able to execute a game plan that held us the lead.”
St Mary’s will face some selection questions ahead of this week’s game against Grovedale after Brady Pritchard suffered a broken collarbone that will rule him out for the rest of the season.
Robertson said he hoped to see the return of a number of players from injury this week.
“Harry Benson will be touch and go this week, but he’s likely to put his hand up,” he said.
“Jack Blood will probably not be available, but Josh Jaska, maybe. And with Matt Keast it’ll just depend what they do with the Werribee VFL side.”
