It was a truly glorious day. The weather gods were in their most generous mood, the Snakepit bathed in endless blue skies, not a hint of a breeze detected. 
It was shorts and t-shirt type weather, maybe even sun cream if the coaches box wasn't the first spot to lose sun to shade.
The glorious weather had a spring like feel, a scent of finals footy was in the air. As mentioned in previous reports, we have a pact not to swear amongst the under 16's group but I can reliably inform that the "F-Word" was definitely on the tip of our tongues. 
This penultimate game of the season was as "finals" like as you could get. We precariously held third spot, our guests from Werribee 4th. Today's prize, a pass to the post season (excuse the American sport reference).
We would have to do it without two of our best. Co-captain Jono Guarnaccia and our star half back, Lachie Jones, would both miss. It was in the hands of our available 19.
Would this glorious weather be a curse. Even in the warm up the heat of the afternoon was testing some. Werribee had a squad, and an arsenal of tall marking options, doubts were present as the first bounce arrived.
They were quickly dispersed as the team launched into one of their most impressive quarters of the season. They were connected, selfless, hard running and full of intent. They spread without delay, kicked short and low and gave the first hands every time. A 12 point quarter time lead. 
Werribee wouldn't be perturbed, their season was on the brink and they wouldn't go down wondering. They tested our defence and our willingness to push back as a team. Whatever they threw at us we countered, even a couple of swinging arms that led to our first send of this season. Our superstar Logan Phee had been a marked man, they were ready to stop him at all costs, his 3 goals on the day instrumental, even if he had to sit out for a 15 minute breather.
The half time break was timely. An 8 point buffer but legs were tiring. We re-set with positivity, the biggest half of the season awaited.
With 2 of our stars out, there were a host of positional adjustments that all reaped benefits. When players take their opportunities or accept different roles willingly, it is one of the more satisfying aspects of coaching. It was also critical to our success, particularly as our energetic half forward Rhys Saunders, hobbled off early in the third. Suddenly we didn't have a bench, it would be all heart from here.
This team eats up adversity, have done all season. 
"It was one for the ages" a parent commented later. We snuck out to a 4 goal buffer early in the last but the suspense was not over, your ticket for the day had a bit more value in it yet.
Suddenly, the 6/6/6 rule found its way to the Snakepit and a raft of infringements from both sides lead to questionable free kicks and forward entry gifts to Werribee. Mick Moretti (a staunch Melbourne fan) couldn't watch as flashbacks to the final moments of the Dees recent loss to the Saints crippled him. He almost needed to resuscitate himself as trainer for the day. Those final minutes were frantic on the bench, it meant so much, fortunately, the boys on the field had it under control!
In the end a superb full team effort, a 12 point win, a clean sheet against Werribee in our two clashes, perhaps a third to come in a couple of weeks.
Ironically, as around the grounds scores were checked soon after the siren, we learned that Point Cook had pulled off a remarkable win against 2nd placed Williamstown. They had bumped Werribee from 4th to 5th. A loss would have done the same to us, with our final fixture against undefeated Newport, the importance of the days win was appreciated two fold. It truly was a glorious day!

U14G Team Roach

We headed to the home of Altona Vikings. The top team undefeated and rocking well over 1,000% since we stunned them in early May grading by 1 point at the Snakepit. The biggest team in the division that intimidates and shocks their opponents with their uncompromising bruising play. A team out for revenge.

St Bernards girls were coming off 2 great wins but further ravaged by injuries and absences, with under-12 help needed just to put 16 on the field, and no bench.
The girls were challenged pre-game; show no fear, take no backward steps. Fight fire with fire. Lessons are learnt in these games, and character is built.

2 tough first quarters saw the girls only down 3 points. Giving their all and holding their own against the horde. But the Vikings roared…and threw everything to start the 3rd, getting two early goals to lead by 15 points. They could see the cracks forming...and prepared to bully us out of the game.

But the girls said no. Not today. We don’t fear you.

For the last 20 minutes of play, hitting us with all they had and rotating through their 6 deep bench, Altona could only manage a solitary point. The girls fought until nothing was left. A 16-point loss, that gave us more than 100 easy wins ever could.

It was clear around the ground that respect had been truly earned, and that the girls had again been the toughest opponent this year. Macy Roach and Tilly Rizzo were imperious in their relentless attack, Sophie Juricskay and Alice Healy showed just why they lead this team, and Ivy Biggs was a courageous defensive rock in her first game back from serious injury. 

Well done girls. Play like that and win next week, and finals await.

U14 Team Bloomfield

The boys headed down to Willy for a must-win clash against a strong Williamstown outfit. We knew we were in for a red-hot contest, but the group was up and about after knocking them off by five goals last time.
The weather gods turned it on, and from the opening bounce, it was on for young and old. The pressure was finals like - fierce, contested, and hard at it. It was a proper arm-wrestle, with neither side giving an inch. All 36 lads from both sides out there had a crack. Not one of them took a backward step. 
Willy jumped out of the blocks early and took advantage of a few of our brain fades to kick away to a three-goal lead at quarter time. But we weren’t out of it the boys were still well and truly in the fight.
The second and third terms were much the same, a tough slog with plenty of big hits and contested ball. Williamstown were a bit cleaner by hand and foot and made the most of their chances. Their polish around the ground and ability to hit targets under pressure was the difference. By the final break, we found ourselves staring down the barrel, 10 goals adrift.
At three-quarter time, I threw down the challenge one last big push. I wanted us to win the last quarter and take some momentum into next week, to the boys' credit, they dug in. Their effort, pressure, and desire to compete never dropped off, and we came home strong to win the quarter by two goals.
The final siren sounded with an 8-goal loss on the board. But despite the scoreboard, I walked off proud. Sometimes in footy, you give everything you’ve got, but the other mob is just better on the day and that was the case here. The boys never dropped their heads and showed the sort of ticker that makes you proud to coach.

U14 Team Sacco

It was a really tough game for this side today against a 3rd placed Albion. Although we had a full side with 6 on the IC, which was almost impossible to manage in itself, we were playing a side that I honestly believe would challenge most Division one teams. There is not much to celebrate when the result is a 120-point result deficit. Our onball brigade were as brave as they could be at the coal face. Tom Hickey and Henry Sacco playing well outside their weight division were gallant all day. Jacob Calleja and Michele Inguanti were all heart and battered themselves against a brick wall all day, it seemed. Noah Smth and Joel Zammit did all they possibly could trying to stem the flow up back, but in the end, Albion, with its ridiculous size and skill advantage, did whatever they wanted at will. One week to go, and it's undefeated top of the ladder Williamstown at Williamstown next week

U12G Team Zucco

U12 Team Farrugia

Under 12 Farrugia fronted up to the Pit to face the undefeated Willi quietly hoping for a horizontal rain downpour to slow them down but we all had a perfect day for footy. Didn't end well for us today on the scoreboard but without a doubt 1 of our best Pressure and Effort games this year, sometimes the scoreboard doesn't reflect the Effort so I was enormously proud of the little wins today. We front up again next week to 3rd placed Newport and put the gloves on again for the last hoorah.

U12 Team Trewin

We headed to Flemington this week for what we knew would be another tough game. 
We trained well through the week and we were bringing some good positive energy. 
We were slow to switch on and that let Flemington skip away to a 5 goal to nil first qrt.
After a simple qrt time msg from  the Coach and getting the boys minds back on the job, we only let Flemington kick 3 goals over the next  two quarters. This all came about from a huge lift in our pressure and being accountable. 
The last qrt Flemington stepped it up a gear, piling on 8 goals. 
 We could only manage 3pts for the game but we had two sensational efforts to kick a goal. Elliott Spicer got the ball in the centre circle and there was only one Flemington player between him and our goals. He took a couple of bounces fended him off,  had another bounce, 20mts out now, and just as he went to put it through he got caught from behind. 
The other came from Darcy Smith who got the ball on centre wing, and took on whatever cane at him, whilst having another two chasing him, had 3 bounces got the ball to the forward pocket, kicked towards the goal square and got knocked over. He bounced back up chased down his kick but just couldn’t get it to go through. 
Both of these efforts had the Bernard’s faithful in full flight. 
Another tough loss but two really solid qrts to be very proud of. 
Freddie Cooper won the Heartland award for his consistent efforts throughout the game. 
Best players included Levi Micheletto, Darcy Smith, Lewis Hardwick, Oscar Bradfield, Freddie Cooper, Sammy Wallis.

U12 Team Fitzpatrick

A huge game for our under 12 group who were given the great opportunity to play on the Snakepit in a game that was going to decide equal top spot and a top 2 finish on the table coming in to finals. 

The big clash was against our nemesis Yarraville who touched us up by circa 40 points on 2 seperate occasions earlier in the year. 

The script got flipped today with the boys securing their 7th straight win in a hard fought battle against a high quality opponent 7.4=46 to 4.6=30.

It was a super team performance where nearly every player played their best game of the season. A true testament to the improvement of the boys. It was great to get the job done in front of family, friends and the President ! The latter of which pulled some hot dogs from the canteen post game to massive cheers from all 23 players who nearly sung the song again upon announcement !

Rather than go through best players, it is perhaps worth talking to some moments that mattered - A few among many that come to mind :

•⁠  ⁠Jacob ‘Doc’ Hosie taking clutch Q1 marks staring in to the sun where it was Doc or bust
•⁠  ⁠Matteo ‘Moose’ Borgia timing his runs out of fullback, charging with ferocity and purpose - a true moose on the loose ! 
•⁠  ⁠⁠Sammy the Wolf is not the fastest or strongest but he chased the best player at Yarraville like his life depended on it and stuck some
big tackles where he had no right to do so. 
•⁠  ⁠See above for Hamish the Hammer and the Arlen ‘Wizard’ Fabri
•⁠  ⁠Kobe1 Farrugia brought others in to the game and set up multiple goals
•⁠  ⁠⁠James ‘Prince’ Vasile bobbed up and booted said goals
•⁠  ⁠⁠James ‘Muzzie’ Murray ran 60 metres in a late chase which warmed the heart. He then got out the back and kicked the goal that sealed the game. 
•⁠  ⁠⁠Owen ‘Chief’ Jackman and Max ‘General’ Van Zuiden have been aptly nicknamed - they controlled defensive wave after defensive wave all day
•⁠  ⁠⁠They all had many friends !

On to the last game next week against a lowly opponent with the opportunity to cement top billing.

U10G Team Smith

A big thanks to Paul Groves who stepped in today to cover the coach who is working on his tan in Noosa. The girls headed out to Albion for their third clash of the season with the record tied at 1-1.

The girls had a sluggish start to the game with many girls still half asleep after a night celebrating the Vixens Grand Final win, but started to come alive after half time.

Albion were at full strength which made life difficult but our senior age girls really stood up. Tully Allen, Eliza Romeo, Zoe Groves and Willow Cameron were in and under and then using their pace on the outside. Stella Andronaco keeps getting better every week and Isla Smith was really clean with her hands whenever the ball came her way. 

In a game that came down to the wire, accuracy was the decider. In the last quarter we kicked goals and they kicked behinds. Winners by 1 point.

U10 Team Biggs

As far as our performances have gone this year, this was the icing on the cake. 

I can’t say we as parents, have seen a better performance. 
The willingness to play team football, and work for each other made our parents hair stand up on the back of their neck. 
We beat Yarraville convincingly but it was the way the boys played that was so impressive. 

Linking up hand balls with skilful foot delivery to teammates further up the ground was beyond their years.

A 4 quarter team effort was what that was, utter brilliance. Enough said.

I am so proud of you boys, and I know everyone that sore today is too. 

Amazing!!

U10 Team Manley

The sun was shining, there was little wind and we were ready for the challenge at Newport. It felt more like March than August! 

Our boys brought the heat early, we were first to the ball and our ball movement was giving the opposition trouble. With plenty of time in our forward half we found only one goal in the first after a great contested mark in the goal square by Justin “Stinger” Moretti. 

The second stanza started the same, with a strong contest and repeat forward entries landing with a mark to Jaxon “Iceman” Elkhouri, who calmly slotted a set shot goal. 

Halfway through the second the game changed, as the heat looked to wear our mids down and our inability to support our defence resulted in three quick Newport goals to flip the lead by half time. 

The second half was an old fashioned arm wrestle with some fantastic physical footy with some quality ball movement from both sides. One goal each in the second half with ours coming from a great set shot goal from Rishi “The Wiz” Vasih, after reading the ball drop for a smart chest mark. 

We were repeatedly pounding the ball forward in the last quarter looking to square the game up but couldn’t find a killer blow. A 7 point loss, with the boys giving it absolutely everything. The best tackling and pressure we have put on all year. 

Best for the day was Stinger Moretti with his contested marking and penetrating kicks, with Raine “Storm” Colthurst once again finding heaps of the footy, River “Rage” Cooper an absolute terrier and tackling machine and Jacob “Bull” Falzon a constant first ball winner and target up forward. 

A quality game of under 10s footy that was a pleasure to be out on the ground and witness.

U9 Team Round

On a crisp but sunny morning at the Snakepit, we welcomed Werribee Districts for what turned out to be our best team performance of the season. With Districts clipping our wings snatching a close win earlier in the season we were determined to square the ledger. 

The opening quarter was a tight contest, with either side willing to budge. Werribee struck first, but Aiden “The Arrow” Lawton responded brilliantly, snapping his first goal of the season with a sensational front and centre effort.

The second term continued at a fierce pace. Hayden “Fly” Fitzpatrick (Sherrin imprints on his hands this evening) was simply outstanding intercepting, rebounding, and setting up attacking chains with his trademark run and clean disposal. His leadership, fierce tackling and all-round effort earned him Best on Ground honours. When Liam “Hulk” Hill added a strong mark and goal before halftime little separated both teams. With Lawson “Lethal” Carrick and River “Rage” Copper relentless at the contest and laying crucial tackles Districts knew we weren’t going away. 

In the third, Flynn “Flipper” Wishart stepped up, taking control through the midfield and turning back multiple Werribee surges. His intensity, ball use, strong marking and overall customary physicality earned him the Coaches Award.

The final siren saw players from both sides exhausted, having given everything. Every boy (and their families) that pulled on a Bernards jumper should be incredibly proud - today wasn’t just about the scoreboard, it was about teamwork, skill, endeavour, fight and spirit. The feedback they received walking off said it all and was more than well deserved. 

A very proud coach.

U8 Team Ryan

Our boys produced an outstanding game of under 8’s football this week. Werribee are always a tough opponent and our lads were up for the challenge.

Gus Franzo was back to his absolute best marking everything that came near him. Felix Orlando was the well deserved winner of the heartland award and his younger brother Rio played an excellent game.

Our skipper for the day Liam Stapleton gave a stirring pre game speech which included “we didn’t drive this far to lose” and he matched it with a sensational game leading from the front including a huge pack mark.

Tom Demaria had another great game.  His improvement over the season has been a pleasure to watch.

Our BOG for this week was Harry Lancashire. Harry played the ultimate team game ensuring his opponent didn’t get anywhere near the ball. Then when it was his time to go, he put his head over the ball and fed some excellent handballs out to his teammates. Well done Hazza!

U8 Team Cameron 

After three wins in succession we headed out to Werribee Districts full of confidence. Unfortunately things didn’t pan out in the way we would have liked.

Werribee were a standout side, probably the best we’ve played all year and thoroughly deserved the comprehensive win. 

It was a good learning experience for our young side, it’s fair to say once Werribee kicked the first two goals quickly we dropped our heads and the effort from many wasn’t where it has been in recent weeks.

Despite conceding many goals in quarters 1, 3 and 4, the shining light was our second quarter effort where we kept them goalless and proved that when we bring our best we can mix it with the best teams.

Well done to Ashton Perona who clearly played his best game of the season, attacking every contest and leading from the front and to heartland winner Jonah Kolokithas.

Another opportunity next week to finish off on a positive note against YSE at the pit.

U8 Team Mirtsis 

Unfortunately a undermanned st bernards went down today to caroline springs in icy morning conditions, after quickly snagging the first 2 goals and looking sharp we just couldn't go on with it and were pegged back and couldn't recover from there. Orlando Micheletto was a stand out with his speed to rival Gout Gout, the opposition could not get near him and with his rugby league side steps impossible to tackle. Jacob Iguanti was sensational the way he read the play and took the ball on the volley to clear the congestion, Captain Remy continued his goal scoring streak with a long bomb, King Cary marked as the siren went and tried a torpedo to rival Malcolm blight at princess Park, just fading away from the big sticks.  Looking for a big lift next week in our final game!