Newtown & Chilwell has overcome two hoodoos against archrival St Joseph’s as it started its second campaign under Steve Johnson with a 47-point victory at Jardon Oval.
The Towners, who had the bye in Round 1, kept last year’s grand finalists to just four goals in claiming a valuable four points, 13.9 (87) to 4.16 (40).
They hadn’t beaten Joeys on their home deck since 2016, and last won consecutive games against their Autumn Street neighbour in 2014.
“We’d had a really strong pre-season, so we were happy with the team that we were putting out,” Johnson said.
“But, we were uncertain of how the game was going to play out, given Joeys first round clash was impressive.
“But I thought our boys played a really good brand of footy.
“We were hard to score against. We were really physical, so we came away from the game really happy.”
In his first appearance since Round 9 last year, co-captain Luke Maddock was tasked with the role of limiting the influence of St Joseph’s recruit Jack Jovanovic, who announced himself to the competition with a seven-goal haul against Leopold.
However, the miserly Maddock did what few defenders will do in 2026: keep the Queanbeyan recruit goalless.
“He did a really good job, as well as taking a number of intercept marks,” Johnson said.
Towners vice-captain Connor Fopiani was the standout on the scoreboard, finishing with five goals.
However, it was Mitch Dodos who earned Johnson’s praise.
“Mitch probably had his best game for the club,” he said.
“He didn’t necessarily hit the scoreboard – he kicked one goal – but his ability to compete in the air and give our smalls an opportunity at ground level was impressive.”
An ankle injury suffered by talented youngster Jett Modola was the only negative for the afternoon.
“He was having a really good game as a forward who rotated through the midfield,” Johnson said.
“He just gives us a little bit of speed through there.
“He came off halfway through the last quarter. We took a precautionary approach and just left him off, but I don’t think it’s too serious.”
Johnson also confirmed the club was waiting for the results of scans on a knee injury suffered by 2025 GFNL Team of the Year member Ben Pennisi in last week’s practice match against Old Geelong.
Newtown & Chilwell’s next opponent is North Shore at Windsor Park on Friday night.
St Joseph’s, who were best served by Angus Humphrey and Gus Morrison, will look to keep alive their Anzac Day winning streak dating back to 2014 against South Barwon.
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