St Mary’s co-coach Luke Rayner has urged his players to “take some confidence” from their impressive 48-point win over ladder leader St Joseph’s at Drew Oval.
The Saints are continuing to defy expectations they were set for a drop down the ladder following an off-season exodus of premiership players.
The 14.7 (91) to 6.7 (43) result has St Mary’s sitting third on the ladder, four points behind second-placed Newtown & Chilwell, but with a game in hand.
“I think what’s important for this group is we stay really level and we stay really grounded,” Rayner told K rock Football following the match.
“I’m certainly not putting the gaffer tape on them and trying to peg them down by any stretch.
“But as I said to the group just post-game, I said, ‘What you can do from today is: you just take some confidence. Just take some confidence from what the group collectively were able to achieve against an absolute quality opponent’.
“Now, what that leads into and how that finishes and what comes next. I’m not too sure.”
Going into the contest with unavailable talisman Paddy Dowling and former AFL player Brayden Ham (hamstring), St Mary’s had an early victory when captain Jack Blood called correctly at the coin toss, and he couldn’t point to the southern end of the ground quickly enough.
Following an evenly matched opening 12 minutes, where experienced Saint Jesse Travaglini and Joeys forward Mitch Chafer exchanged, the visitors produced 10 minutes of football that would ultimately prove the difference.
St Mary’s kicked five goals in that period, including three in three minutes from Jack Willson, Blood, and Travaglini, pushing the margin to 29 points at quarter time.
St Joseph’s kicked the opening two goals of the second quarter to cut the margin to 16 points, but had to wait until just before the half-time siren for their third, during which time the Saints managed three into the breeze.
Best-on-ground Sam Bourke kicked his second of three goals, Elijah Wales, who was playing a negating role on Joeys star Luke Webb, contributed his first of three, and Travaglini found his third.
It gave St Mary’s a 25-point lead going into the main break, and by the time majors from Bourke and Wales were followed by one from emerging big man Fletcher Hughes, the margin had reached 43 points, and the match was over as a contest.
Despite kicking the second-highest score of the season against last year’s minor premier, Rayner was keen to praise the Saints’ defensive unit, revealing they deliberately chose seven defenders.
“That was a little bit of a mindset from our point of view, in regards to: we wanted some guys behind the footy that first and foremost, they were there to defend a really strong opposition forward line,” Rayner said.
“They’ve got plenty of dangerous players, as we all know, so I just think the growth in some of these guys is outstanding.
“Hamish Bourke just continues to flourish, and the harder the job that you give him, the better he goes.
“Sammy Christensen’s coming back into some really good footy, and I thought did a pretty solid job on (Oscar) Morrison today.
“Their smalls looked a little bit dangerous early. I think, you know, they’re hard players to play on, you know, the Chafers and the Lewises and those sort of type guys.
“But to ‘Chipper’ (Nick Connors) and ‘Keids’ (Keidan Rayner) credit, I think they did a fairly good job.
“And Charlie Lang was outstanding. Charlie’s had a rough couple of weeks, so for him to probably brave his circumstances and go out there today and play the type of game that he did was outstanding.”
Hughes was also impressive in the ruck against fellow youngster Eddy McCoy and received the Michael Carmody for his efforts.
The only blemish for the day was a shoulder injury suffered by Chris Jansen that is likely to sideline him until late in the home-and-away season.
St Joseph’s coach Ron Watt was left scratching his head when speaking with K rock Football.
“It’s) hard to tell what I was most disappointed in, but probably the general application to task, I think,” he said.
“We’ve got a very basic game style, and it relies on huge work rate and real contest, and I don’t think we brought enough contest today.
“They did to us what we wanted to do to them. And we thought we may have had a slightly bigger group of players, physically bigger than they.
“But they made us look a lot smaller today. That’s the game, and we go on to play again next week.”
Joeys faces a challenging trip to Colac to start the last third of the season, while St Mary’s should claim win number ten of the season when it hosts Colac.
Bell Park has overcome woeful inaccuracy and a plucky Geelong West to maintain its spot inside the top five with a 20-point win at West Oval.
With scores level at three-quarter time, the Dragons had the advantage of the breeze in the final term.
They kicked 2.10, which proved to be enough to claim a 6.20 (56) to 5.6 (36) victory.
Jack Sarcevic kicked three goals for Bell Park, with Eli Pearce and Zac Mirkovic impressing.
Lachie Taylor and Lara recruit were named the Giants’ best.
A career-high five goals from young big man Joe McCarthy was the highlight as Grovedale did enough to beat Lara by 68 points at Burdoo Reserve, 15.11 (101) to 4.9 (33).
Tom Gillett contributed three goals, with midfielder Billy Ford and ruck Cooper Leach, in his first senior game since April 2025, also important.
15-year-old debutant Jarvis Burley kicked a goal on debut for the Cats.
Colac kept St Albans goalless for three quarters as it consolidated its spot in the top five with a 36-point win at St Albans Reserve, 11.9 (75) to 5.9 (39).
Kane Smartt (three goals) and Port Melbourne-listed Jack Skinner were named the Tigers’ best.
In his second appearance for the season, West Perth big man Matt McKenzie was a standout for the Supersaints.
Newtown & Chilwell produced a percentage-boosting 195-point win over North Shore at Windsor Park.
The Eagles’ victory could have been bigger if not for inaccuracy in breezy conditions, claiming victory 29.30 (204) to 1.3 (9).
Will O’Dwyer kicked five goals, Archer Harkness contributed four, and Mitch Dodos and debutant Noah Caracella finished with three apiece.
X: @krockfootball
