Hampton Rovers and Old Brighton battled for the Browne Family Cup for the first time on Saturday and it was the Tonners who claimed it, with a 41 point win at Brighton Beach Oval.
The long-time local rivals struck the new Cup to recognise the contributions of Anthony Browne to the Rovers and Bill Browne to Brighton. Anthony played 276 games for the club including 182 VAFA matches, won two senior flags, claimed four senior best & fairests and spent two years as senior captain. Despite much pressure, he remained a Rovers player and continues to support the club to this day, attending regularly.
After a two week break, it was good to see Mark Devereaux, Josh McPherson and Jack Toouli return from injury and play well, however with 10 changes from the previous round, it was always going to be a tough task against a top-four side on their deck. It was evident both teams had key players missing from their line-ups. Our two State representatives, Daniel Corp and Adam McNeil, continued their good form and both featured in the best players.
A tricky wind gave both sides trouble in front of goal with a total of 35 behinds scored compared to just 18 goals. It gave some advantage to the Brighton end, in which the home side kicked in the opening term. They kicked two goals eight to the Rovers two behinds.
The second term was a more even one and while the Rovers kicked three, the home side managed two into the wind and they took a 16-point lead into the main break. While the Rovers weren’t at their best, they were by no means out of the contest although a big effort was required in the second half.
The Rovers cause wasn’t helped when ruckman Charlie Miles was forced out of the game following a heavy knock. The home side didn’t dominate possession but they did on the scoreboard, kicking five goals to nothing in the third to lead by 46 points at three-quarter time.
In the last term, with the wind, Hampton kicked a few but Old Brighton continued their consistent scoreboard pressure they had exerted all day and while the Rovers won the quarter, there wasn’t a massive impact made on the margin. All in all, a game to forget as attention now moves to a home clash against the red-hot ladder-leaders St Kevin’s Old Boys who remain unbeaten.
Congratulations to Nick Jewell on playing his 100th senior game for the club and also to Tom Cougan who played his 100th in the early game.
HAMPTON ROVERS 0.2 3.9 3.13 6.15 (51)
OLD BRIGHTON 2.8 5.13 10.17 12.20 (92)
Goal Kickers: S. Bradford 2, D. Corp 2, J. McPherson, J. Lloyd
Best Players: D. Corp, J. McPherson, T. Jones, N. Smith, M. Devereaux, S. Clements
The Reserves had a tough outing with so many promoted to the seniors and not many returning players – promoted players from the Thirds meant they unfortunately had to forfeit. Still, the boys worked hard all day and were competitive for the most part. In the end, it was a 49-point victory to Old Brighton.
Fresh from staring in the recent TV commercial, Stef Constantinou clearly had his confident running high and was cool and collected down back, named best on for the Rovers, while Mark Short was doing some really heavy work up forward. The old brigade of Cain Malthouse, Daniel Andersen and Lachy Wheeler all featured in the best players.
The story of the day was the Under 19s, who despite only having 17 players, defeated St Bernards by 36 points – their fifth consecutive. The boys kicked 16 goals despite missing their two main goal kickers – Tom Nicholls and Cam Jones.
A quick start and to have a 35 point lead at the first break and then to hold that lead against the wind in the second was a fantastic effort. Clearly, the wind was the determining factor and the ability of the young Rovers to keep the scoreboard ticking over made it very difficult for the Snowdogs to get into the game. Darcy Merlo with 4 goals must have been in our best, likewise Jack Zaina who popped through 3 in a solid performance.
Great to see U17 players this year in Ben Kneebush, Fin Shellie, Daniel Tocker and Leon McCartney all making an impact. Fill in coach Peter Rogerson, now with a perfect coaching record, advised me that it was James Thiris’s best game of the year – he was in everything! With Dave Broadstock dominating the ruck, Joel Ballegi and Darcy Merlo on top and James Massey having a day out at CHB the Snowdogs just didn’t have the answers. Great to see Lachy Cairns back on the ground having struggled with a hip injury over recent weeks. Next week, the U19s are away against ladder-leaders Old Geelong at Como Park at 2pm.
Seniors scoreworm:
