Above: St John’s celebrate their 28-point victory in the VAFA Division Two grand final on Sunday.
By Jarrod Potter
ST JOHN’S Old Collegians took the Division Two grand final in a canter, dispatching Glen Eira by 28 points in the Victorian Amateur Football Association (VAFA).
In doing so, St John’s earnt its second promotion in as many years.
Beginning 2010 in Division Three, St John’s rise through the divisions started when they won the premiership to earn qualification for Division Two. In winning on Sunday, St John’s will now move up from Division Two.
Glen Eira defeated St John’s by 33 points two weeks earlier in their second semi-final, forcing the JOCs to go the long way around – starting with a hard-fought eight-point preliminary final win over Therry Penola.
St John’s took an early lead with the assistance of a strong breeze at Central Reserve in Richmond, assisting forward Rohan Scott to apply early pressure to Glen Eira.
Matthew Phaedonos won his position well, the key defensive post, as he repelled much of Glen Eira’s forward momentum. The second quarter saw St John’s work extremely hard defensively to see Glen Eira only score one goal with the breeze. With a run on in the third, St John’s kicked 4.4 to a solitary point to put the match beyond Glen Eira’s grasp.
Despite a fightback from Glen Eira in the fourth quarter – in which they kicked the first three goals of the term – JOCs ran out the day strongly to take the premiership.
Jared Gaget won the best-on-field medal, while Scott kicked five goals and menaced Glen Eira’s defence.
St John’s coach Matt Jones said the team were able to attack strongly when it counted most.
“We got away to a good start,” Jones said.
“We were able to consolidate that in the first half. We were challenged at the start of the fourth, but we then came home with the goods.”
Jones said the team worked hard to ensure that the mistakes of two weeks prior weren’t repeated.
“It was really fantastic,” Jones said.
“We had done our homework on them throughout the course of the year and we felt in the semi-final we strayed away from the style of game we play best.
“We allowed ourselves to play the game on Glen Eira’s terms. We focused on that in the lead-up to the grand final.”
Jones highlighted the efforts of backline stoppers Matt Phaedonos and Rick Davies, who weren’t in the semi-final losing side.
“(Matt) Phaedonos was among our best,” Jones said.
“He came into the team for the preliminary final.
“Rick Davies came in for the grand final; he had really good form in the reserves leading up to it and did a great job in the backline.
“Jared Gaget was fantastic through the midfield and Rohan Scott was instrumental as well.”
St John’s have qualified for promotion to Division One in the VAFA, which Jones believes will be a good challenge for the team. “The main thing for us in Division One, we’re now within touching distance of the premier grade. We’ll go back over the summer and plan for Division One.”
The club is looking for juniors for next year’s under-18s side. Contact John Fitzpatrick 0418 350 788 or Stef Janiw 0412 759 247 if interested in pulling on the boots.
