Two Blues humbled

PRAHRAN was humbled by a rampant Kew at Toorak Park on Saturday, sounding an ominous warning to VAFA Division 1 rivals .

Kew was fifth on the ladder heading into the clash with the Two Blues but on the evidence of its 16-8 (104) to 8-10 (58) win, suddenly it has emerged as the main threat to undefeated Preston.

Kew’s winning margins over the past four weeks of 134 points, 118, 104 and now 46 over third placed Prahran says it all.

Kew is now fourth, a game astern of third placed Prahran which saw its percentage plummet from 196 to167.

While Past Players Day revelry continued in the Toorak Park pavilion, on field there was no such bonhomie from Kew.

The Two Blues were overpowered by Kew which clearly came into the game with plans to curb the home teams strengths.

In recent weeks the Two Blues have dominated the clearances but key playmakers Patrick Marks and Mackenzie Mayne were blanketed and so limited forward line supply.

Simply Kew was stronger, cleaner and more desperate.

But for the Two Blues sturdy defence the margin would have been even greater as the ball lived in Kew’s forward line.

Kew key forward Lachie Bown was a stand-put with four goals as he feasted on supply.

Kew lost its first three matches for the season but is fast making ground.

By contrast after losing just two of its first nine matches by six points and three points respectively, Prahran had its worst day of the season.

As coach Ash Lever said post game every team has a down game, the question now is what will be the reaction when the Two Blues take on undefeated Preston next Saturday?.

After skipper Rory Brodie snapped the first goal of the match Kew slammed on 5-5 while keeping the Two Blues scoreless.

The second quarter was more competitive with three goals apiece but Kew iced the game with a six goals in the third term, Prahran's only goal coming from key forward James Elwin (pictured right) with teammate Jake Stent-Powell .

To their credit the Two Blues limited more damage in the last quarter kicking the last three goals of the game by Ethan Plaza (2) and Jackson Partridge.

PRAHRAN 1-0 4-3 5-5 8-10 (58)

Kew 5-5 8-6 14-8 16-8 (104)

Goals. Plaza, Partridge 2, Brodie, Cotter, Elwin, Cook.

Best. Liam Hepburn, Rory Brodie, Angus Perez, Jayden Williams, Harrison Cook, Thomas Cotter

RESERVES

IN a low scoring contest second placed Kew emerged as the winner over a gallant Prahran.

The Reserves were affected by the loss of six senior players which obviously tested the depth of the list.

Despite that scores were level at half-time but gradually Kew got on top.

The Reserves remain third on the ladder.

PRAHRAN 2-1 3-4 3-6 3-8 (26)

Kew 2-1 3-4 5-8 6-9 (45)

Goals. Devine 2, Beddison.

Best. Michael Woods, Otto Langtry-Kierce, Oscar Hatherly, Baxter Kam, Nicholas Phimister, Blake Graham

WOMENS

AFTER  two weeks off due to the King’s Birthday bye followed by Old Yarra forfeiting in Round 8, our Womens team returned for Round 9 vs Hawthorn at a very cold and wet Toorak Park.

We went into this round with a large number of core players unavailable. It was not the result we were looking for in the end.
Hawthorn are a very physical team, with some highly skilled players, so we were always going to be stretched.

The opposition started fast and had us on the back foot early in the first quarter, with multiple scoring shots and forward 50 entries.

The team battled hard in the first half, and we had some promising passages of play and were able to compete for large parts of each quarter, but Hawthorn were able to score quickly and in bursts which made it hard to gain any sort of momentum. They have some talented goal scorers and are very well drilled around stoppages. We continued to put in the effort, however we lacked the flexibility to be able to match them across the park.

We had an excellent third quarter and maintained possession in our forward half for much of the quarter, however we just could not get the ball through the goals - the congestion was limiting. We won possession and territory in the third, by some margin.

Hawthorn arrested control again in the last quarter and kicked some early goals.
We were ultimately unable to score and lost the game by a large margin, but the players who were there on Saturday showed courage and determination to keep getting up and crashing in.

It was a tough day from which the group will grow! We look forward to the challenge of playing the top team, Parkdale, next week at the Harry Trott oval.

PRAHRAN 0-0 (0)

Hawthorn 2-2 4-7 5-7 8-10 (58) 

Best. Sheldon Menzies, Mikayla Collins, Alice Leahy, Ruth Sheridan, Lauren Kenneally, Katelyn Fleming