By Jonty Ralphsmith
Some at Springvale Districts joke that Toby Arms is coach Kris Thompson’s pet.
If he wasn’t yet, the 20-year-old may just have elevated himself to that status on Saturday.
In effectively an eight-point game against Port Melbourne, which will contend with them and St Paul’s McKinnon for one of the final two spots in the five, he dominated from the first siren.
Filling in the ruck for Ryan Auld, who injured himself last week, he earned the week off he’ll get this week with no footy due to King’s Birthday.
He gathered 35 disposals, 19 contested possessions, seven intercept marks and six inside 50s.
“It was the best game of his career,” said his coach Thompson.
“He’s hard. He played in the ruck and he’s undersized but was keen to do it.
“That’s the difference between him and others, most people don’t want to play that role so it was an unreal game for a 20-year-old.”
The Demons edged their way out to a 29-point three-quarter-time lead which proved insurmountable for the Colts.
As well as his individual stats sheet, by competing manfully in the ruck, Arms allowed Springvale Districts to win the contested ball which was their avenue to victory.
“Our ball movement was really good after winning it in the middle,” Thompson said.
“We were fast and willing to go through the middle, and at times we went around them so we gave our forwards much better looks.”
Playing as a midfielder-forward, Daniel Helmore finished with six goals to prove there is more to the Springvale Districts forward line than just Matt Wetering.
Wetering still kicked three himself to maintain third spot in the Division 1 goalkicking tally.
Playing his 200th game, Matt Thompson kicked a goal in the last quarter to cap off a game where he played his wing role well.
Key defender Matthew Blair, meanwhile, kept opposition goalkicker Chan Hargraves to just two goals, while John Walker also played an important defensive role.
Cranbourne got up comfortably against Mordialloc, opening the game up in the second quarter.
Ryan Jones kicked four and Marc Holt three, while defender Glenn Osborne and Bailey Buntine also had a good day at Ben Kavanagh Reserve.
Dingley recorded a comfortable win over St Paul’s McKinnon to highlight the gap between the top echelon and the rest of the competition.
Usual suspects Tom Morecroft, Nathan Freeman and Lucas Walmsley were strong, alongside Cody Cochrane who kicked three goals.
After conceding four of the first five to trail by 18 at quarter time, the Dingoes would concede only three more to outlasted the Doggies.
Division One
Results R8: Chelsea Heights 12.13 85 v Bentleigh 8.12 60, Mordialloc 7.5 47 v Cranbourne 16.10 106, St Kilda City 12.12 84 v Cheltenham 17.17 119, Dingley 12.19 91 v St Paul’s McKinnon 7.8 50, Springvale Districts 13.11 89 v Port Melbourne 9.7 61.
Ladder: Dingley 28, Cheltenham, 28, Cranbourne 24, St Paul’s McKinnon 20, Springvale Districts 20, Port Melbourne Colts 16, Chelsea Heights 8, Bentleigh 8, St Kilda City 4, Mordialloc 4.
Fixture R9 (17 June): Mordialloc v Port Melbourne Colts, Bentleigh v Dingley, Cheltenham v Chelsea Heights, Cranbourne v St Kilda City, St Paul’s McKinnon v Springvale Districts.
