St Bernard’s Suffer First Defeat
After a week off, St Bernard’s were faced with a different kind of test, taking on a fired-up Old Brighton at home at the Snakepit.
With the emotion of Anzac day still fresh in the air, and a moving Anzac ceremony before the game commenced, the atmosphere around the club was reflective yet determined. The importance of the occasion was not lost on the players, who were encouraged to honour the spirit of the day with a brave performance.
Heading into the match with a 2-0 record, Bernard's confidence was high although aware of the challenge today. It quickly became clear that Old Brighton had come to play, bringing relentless pressure and fierce physically from the opening bounce. They dominated early, kicking the first four majors of the day and winning the contested ball making life difficult for the Bernard’s midfielders. By quarter time, Old Brighton had stamped their authority into the game and St Bernard’s were left chasing.
Despite the challenging start, the boys dug deep, trying their best to claw their way back into the contest. There were periods where St Bernard’s lifted their intensity showing glimpses of the attacking football game that had been so effective for them in the first two rounds of the season. Although ultimately, they were unable to get a breakthrough and have any consistent passages of dominating the play.
While it was a difficult day on the scoreboard, there were still a number of strong individual performances worth highlighting. Luca Alessio worked tirelessly all afternoon, winning plenty of contested balls and setting the tone with his physicality and attack on the contest. In defence, Zac Overman continued his impressive 2025 campaign standing tall under immense pressure, consistently repelling Old Brighton’s forward entries and keeping the backline as organised as possible under constant attack.
The unrelenting pressure from Old Brighton made it a difficult day at the office, every time St Bernard’s looked to try to turn the momentum, Old Brighton would respond with clean ball movement and strong finishes in front of the goal. Debutant Nick Tongue, continued to present throughout the middle of the ground, taking on the game and rising to the challenge of his first seniors game in the Bernard’s colours.
To the boys' credit, they never stopped trying, attempting to compete at every contest although ultimately, Old Brighton were just the better side on the day, their class and consistency across four quarters proving too much to overcome. The team now will regroup and refocus, taking lessons from Saturday’s hard outing for what promises to be another big challenge next week coming up against Collegians who just defeated the reigning premiers in Scotch.
ST BERNARDS 1.1 3.4 5.5 7.5 (47)
OLD BRIGHTON 4.3 9.6 12.12 14.17 (101)
GOALS
St Bernards: Colaco, Di Lizio, Liberatore, Said, Sibbald, H.Schumann
Old Brighton: Hill 3, Burnell 2, Agg 2, Campigli, Dick, Flockart, Hope, Karayannis, Pryor, Segar
BEST
St Bernards: Alessio, Overman, Bharathi, McNicol, Sullivan, Tonge
Old Brighton: Burnell, Hill, Tweedie, Lohan, Macnab, Agg
Written by Hannah Juricskay
