St Joseph’s coach Ron Watt has rated his team’s 79-point hammering of Bell Park at Drew Oval as one of the best of his tenure.
After an even first quarter, where Joeys led by ten points, they took control of the contest, kicking 16 goals to four, to storm to a 20.9 (129) to 7.8 (50) result.
The victory extends St Joseph’s winning run in home-and-away matches to 22.
“It ranks up there with some of our best games, although we were a little bit disappointed with the last quarter that we couldn’t close the game right out,” Watt told krockfootball.live.
“But you win by 80 points. If you had said that at the start of the game – if you had said we would win by 20 points at the start of the game, we would have gone, ‘Yeah, I’m okay with that.’.
“Quarter one was a really good battle, and then the last quarter, well, I think everyone was just playing time.
“Does it matter if you win by 80 points or 110? I don’t know. You can argue either way about it.
“Some teams that have had good runs are teams that really close games out and just show no mercy, and then there’s others who know when to put the foot down and that.
“Yeah, we’re happy with how we’ve played, absolutely.”
For Bell Park coach James Saker, there were a couple of glaring areas, especially when the momentum shifted in St Joseph’s favour in the second quarter.
“We think the stats give us a good indicator as to what we want to be doing or not doing, and we just allowed them too many uncontested marks,” he said.
“At times we were okay with what was happening, but there were also times from that point where we just let them have too much easy ball, and our guys failed to get up and press the ground like we probably wanted to, and they just took full toll.
“That was probably the big stat. And I think we had 50 tackles for the game, which is just nowhere near enough.
“They’re good pointers for our performance.”
Joel Edwards kicked four goals for St Joseph’s to continue his impressive start to 2025, while Grovedale recruit Mitch Chafer contributed three in his first appearance for the club.
However, it was again Zac Knights who shone in defence.
“He’s turned into an excellent player over the last couple of years,” Watt said.
“He’s very task-orientated when you have a role for him, but he’s found his way into actually seeing the game really well now and just playing as part of the team without having to have a specific role.
“It is nice to have somebody who attaches themselves to an opponent in defence when ‘Webby’ (Luke Webb) might be a little bit free-spirited sometimes.
“But that’s what makes good teams, where one person will help compensate for somebody else or allow somebody else to use their skills and their ability.
“But Zach has turned into a really good player and makes good decisions, but executes as well as anyone in the team.
“He kicks the ball or gives the ball off to positions that he knows he can hit. He doesn’t try and bite off more than he can chew.”
For Bell Park, Willson Mack finished with two goals, with Matt Jones and Isaac Wareham the Dragons’ best.
In other games;
St Mary’s fell just short of breaking the competition record for the highest score as it hammered a hapless Lara by 276 points at Lara Recreation Reserve.
With Paddy Dowling and Sam Bourke each kicking ten goals, the Saints posted a score of 48.16 (304) to the Cats’ 4.4 (28).
It’s second only to North Shore’s 47.23 (305), which it kicked against Geelong Amateur in 1988.
St Mary’s had 14 individual goalkickers, with debutants Harry Segrave and Henry Cook finishing with three and two goals, respectively.
Connor Giddings kicked seven goals and Tylar Watts as Leopold demolished North Shore by 183 points at Windsor Park.
As expected, the Lions made light work of the struggling Seagulls in posting a 29.23 (197) to 2.2 (14) victory.
Usual suspects Harry Purcell, Lachie Hayes, and captain Jacob Sammut battled hard for North Shore against insurmountable odds.
The return of a quartet of key players has helped Colac to a ten-point win over South Barwon under lights at Central Reserve.
Trailing by three points at the final change, the Tigers kicked four goals to two during the last quarter to run out victors 8.12 (60) to 7.8 (50).
Brady Hall kicked three goals for the winners, while captain Matt Caldow and Chris Hughes finished with two apiece for the Swans.
St Albans has maintained its spot inside the top five after overcoming Grovedale by 18 points at Burdoo Reserve.
Trailing by nine points at half-time, the Supersaints used a five-goal-to-one third quarter to take control of the contest and run out 11.12 (78) to 8.12 (60) winners.
Co-captain Jacob Russell and midfielder Fletcher Keck each kicked two goals for St Albans, with Point Cook recruit Jimmy Botsaris named best.
Under-18 graduate Bailey McDonald continued his impressive start to the season with three goals to take his tally to eight.
Newtown & Chilwell has bounced back to form with an impressive defensive display as it took care of Geelong West by 56 points at West Oval.
The Eagles held the Giants to just three points after half-time before claiming an 11.15 (81) to 3.7 (25) win.
Mitch Dodos, Ben Pennisi and Gennaro Bove each kicked two goals for Newtown & Chilwell, with ruck Cam Wilkinson best.
Defender Titit Nyak and experienced midfielder Ethan Liddle battled hard for West.
