Author: Toe Punt

PENINSULA LEAGUE MPNFL stars Tim Bongetti and Aaron Edwards will be racing against the clock to be right for the Sharks country championships match against Geelong FL at the MCG on May 13. Bongetti limped into the top of the table clash against Frankston YCW on Saturday and left the field midway through the third term. His left thigh was heavily strapped after he copped another hit on it early in the first quarter. Aaron Edwards camped himself at full forward and hardly moved from there, despite willing himself to the contest on a few occasions. Suffering a back injury,…

PENINSULA LEAGUE KARINGAL champion Michael Burke played his 300th game on Sunday against Frankston YCW. The six-time best and fairest winner, premiership player and league medallist became only the 18th player in MPNFL history to be awarded life membership for 300 games. Burke joined the likes of Guy Stringer, Robert Jackson, Daniel Smith, Gordon Hendry, Mark Hustwaite, Brendan Long and Brett Wright in the elite and prestigious 300 club. Burke has captained and coached Karingal FC and his loyalty has never wavered. The godfather of Karingal FC, Daniel ‘Digger’ Watts, aptly described Burke as the most loyal, honest, humble and…

NEPEAN LEAGUE RED Hill made it two wins on the trot on Saturday when it dominated for much of the afternoon to beat Rosebud at Olympic Park for the first time since 1985. Rosebud led inside the first minute of the match when Keegan Downie goaled but from that moment on, it was all Red Hill. The Hillmen’s dominance from the half back line and blistering pace through the middle of the ground was just too much for the Buds to handle. The inevitable match-up between Red Hill’s Chris Irving and Rosebud’s Greg Bentley did take place from the first…

PENINSULA LEAGUE FRANKSTON YCW got the chocolates on Good Friday against Mt Eliza and once again stamped themselves as the team to beat in Peninsula Division. Billed as the grand final replay, the Stonecats completely controlled the game for all but five minutes in the second quarter when Mt Eliza kicked three unanswered goals to open up a 19 point break. By the end of the first term, the Redlegs didn’t add to their onslaught while the Stonecats dominated and booted 4.8 to lead by 12 points at the big break. The margin was 12 points at three quarter time…

NEPEAN LEAGUE FORMER Sydney Swans premiership captain Barry Hall booted eight goals for Pearcedale in its thrilling five point victory against Frankston Bombers on Saturday. ‘Big, bad, bustling’ Barry lived up to all the hype and excitement, putting the Dales in front after converting a right foot snap with less than a minute left in the match. It was a fitting conclusion to what was a high-quality contest. Pearcedale led for much of the afternoon, thanks largely to the conversion of Hall, who booted his eight goals from just eight kicks. The final score was 18.3 (111) to 15.16 (106).…

PENINSULA LEAGUE A MORE even MPNFL Peninsula Division competition this season may not necessarily be in store after Frankston YCW flexed its muscles against Mornington on Saturday. The reigning premiers were sluggish out of the blocks though, completely outgunned from the opening bounce as the Doggies booted six goals to one in a dominant first stanza with the aid of the breeze. At the first change, the margin was 29 points and the Doggies were in control. Fast forward 30 minutes, Frankston YCW kicks nine of the next 11 goals and turns a 29-point deficit into a 16-point lead. The…

NEPEAN LEAGUE FRANKSTON Bombers sounded a very loud warning to the rest of the MPNFL Nepean Division competition when it handed out a 10-goal hiding to Dromana on Saturday. It may have only been the opening game of the 2017 season, but the Bombers were quick to put the horror of losing the Grand Final to Hastings last year and slip into top gear and put the Tigers to the sword. If the game wasn’t over at quarter-time when the Bombers booted five goals to one, it certainly was at the main interval when the lead blew out to 53…

PENINSULA LEAGUE IT’S hard not to get excited about the 2017 Peninsula Division season. All clubs have worked tirelessly over the summer to improve their lists and it’s exciting to report that all have achieved their objective. Without question, this is going to be the most competitive season in years. Those that were hoping that Frankston YCW would slip will be saddened by the fact that they have recruited arguably the best Nepean Division defender of the past 10 years in Christian Ongarello, while they have also picked up a 21 monster who stands at 205cm and weight-in at 115kg.…

NEPEAN LEAGUE Season 2017 brings with it a real air of excitement. There are four new coaches in the competition – Leigh Stewart at Pearcedale, Bevan Malloy at Somerville, Brad Arnold at Crib Point and Adrian McBean at Rosebud – all are expected to have positive impacts on their clubs. Round 1 is mouth-watering and in many ways will tell a lot about what we can expect from teams this season. Tyabb has the benefit of playing last week against Hastings when it faces Crib Point this week. The Yabbies have added some talent and the Pies have lost some…

INTERLEAGUE MORNINGTON Peninsula Nepean Football League coach John Hynes said he was ‘absolutely wrapped’ with the 2017 Interleague campaign after it kicked-off last Friday. The MPNFL Sharks had 38 on the track on Friday night at Frankston Park while there were players who couldn’t train that attended to support the squad. Hynes said the “level, intensity and competitive aspects were as high as I have seen them”, despite it being the first hit-out of the season. The MPNFL will take-on Geelong FL at the MCG to claim the number one title in Victorian Football in May this year. The last…

The MCG is the likely venue to host the Victorian Championships main game next season, featuring the ranked two MPNFL, up against the best in the business, the Geelong Football League. AFL South East, along with AFL Victoria, are pushing to have the game played as a curtain raiser to the Round eight clash between Essendon and Geelong. Planning is already well underway for the 2017 campaign with coach John Hynes and his fellow selectors in Gavin Artico, Pat Poore and Paul Hopgood already finalising squads. The squad squad is expected to be finalised this week and players notified before…

PENINSULA LEAGUE IT was six premierships in seven years for Frankston YCW last Sunday. What an unbelievable achievement from a lot of dedicated off-field people and a committed on-field group. Question now is, will this continue? A competition-wide salary cap of $150,000 per year is expected to effect the Stonecats. How do they keep the list together? Do the players take a significant pay cut to stay together? Or, as some would have you believe, after so many flags, now is the time to explore other opportunities. With absolute respect to Frankston YCW (they absolutely deserve to have achieved the…

NEPEAN LEAGUE THE 2016 Nepean Division season may have come to a conclusion with Hastings winning the flag, however, the silly season is about to begin as teams prepare to challenge in 2017. For footy clubs, the season never finishes – one season just rolls into another. Who’s going to take us to the next level? Where did we fall short? These are the questions that coaching groups and committees discuss at the conclusion of every season. It’s the catalyst for hundreds of phone calls being made between now and the first bounce of 2017. So what would be the…

PENINSULA LEAGUE FRANKSTON YCW made it three premierships in a row and six in the past seven years after beating Mt Eliza by 22 points at Frankston Park on Sunday. The Peninsula Division champs booted seven goals to one after half time, totally controlling the last hour to win the “three-peat”. After conceding the first six goals of the game in the second semi-final against YCW, it was important that Mt Eliza got off to a good start in the big one – and they did. Mt Eliza led by four points at quarter time and when Jordan Capkin snapped…

NEPEAN LEAGUE What a week it has been for the Hastings Football Club. After beating the Frankston Bombers in a memorable Nepean League Grand Final 11.15 (81) to 6.18 (54), as you would expect, the celebrations continued through the ensuring week and were felt by the whole community. The Hastings community has always embraced the Hastings Football Club and the township celebrated as one following their first flag since 1995. Premiership coach Brendan Dunne said the “premiership feeling” started to sink in on Monday. “It wasn’t until we got together on Monday and watched the replay of the match that…

NEPEAN LEAGUE – GRAND FINAL HASTINGS are the 2016 Nepean League Premiers. The Blues defied the odds, won three cut-throat finals and dominated for 120 minutes in the Grand Final on Saturday to be crowned the kings of Nepean League football. It was the Blues’ first flag since 1995. Hastings kept Frankston goalless in the opening half and led 6.8 (44) to 0.9 (9). The Bombers came back hard in the third quarter and had a shot for goal to reduce the margin to 10 points. The shot missed, the Blues went coast-to-coast and kicked their sole goal of the third…

PENINSULA LEAGUE MT ELIZA will play Frankston YCW in the 2016 Peninsula Division Grand Final after thrashing Pines in Sunday’s Preliminary Final at Frankston Park. The Redlegs had a staggering 40 scoring shots to 11 for the match and recorded an 18.22 (130) to 6.5 (41) victory. All the damage was done in the first quarter for Pines, the favourites booting six first quarter goals to lead by 45 points at the first break. Jordan Capkin was again sensational for the Redlegs, booting four first quarter goals. Justin Van Unen was reasonably well held but still managed to finish with…

There were a total of 61 players nominated for the MPNFL Peninsula Division Team of the Year, to be announced at presentation night on Wednesday, September 7 at Mornington Racecourse. All Peninsula Division coaches were asked to present a team, based on the games and video footage that they had seen in season 2016. Based on the greatest number of nominations, the team was again selected by Mornington Peninsula News sports journalist Andrew ‘Toe Punt’ Kelly. The squad for the 2016 Peninsula Division Team of the year was: Bonbeach: Shane McDonald, Mark Tyrell, Gary Carpenter, Dylan Jones, Matthew Douglas, Beau…

NEPEAN LEAGUE HASTINGS will play Frankston Bombers in the 2016 Nepean Division Grand Final this Saturday at Frankston Park after hanging on to win a thriller against Rosebud. The Blues have beaten Red Hill, Somerville and now Rosebud in the lead up to the big dance and have just one more top five side to beat to claim the 2016 title. The minor premiers Frankston are the only team to stand in their way, having the ideal preparation of a rest in week one of the finals and then another break after advancing through after winning their second semi-final. Hastings…

PENINSULA LEAGUE IF it bleeds, you can kill it! That was a famous line used by arguably the greatest ever AFL footballer Leigh Matthews in 2001 when he was referring to his great Brisbane Lions side beating Essendon. For movie buffs, they’ll know he grabbed the line from Arnold Schwarzenegger in the movie Predator. Suffice to say that it can be used again in reference to the great Frankston YCW, a team that was wounded on Saturday in the second semi-final against Mt Eliza but as great sides do, still managed to win a thriller 18.7 (115) to 17.8 (110).…

NEPEAN LEAGUE FRANKSTON Bombers went straight through to the 2016 Nepean Division Grand Final on Saturday after dishing out a football lesson to reigning premier Rosebud at Rye’s RJ Rowley Reserve. The loss for the reigning premier has set up a preliminary final showdown between Rosebud and Hastings after the Blues smashed Somerville in the last quarter on Sunday. Despite kicking the first goal of the game, Rosebud chased tail for the large majority of the afternoon, threatening only twice during the match. The Bombers shot out to a four goal lead in the second quarter after leading by nine…

PENINSULA LEAGUE MT ELIZA has set up a second semi-final showdown with Frankston YCW after beating Pines by 10 goals in the qualifying final on Saturday at Frankston Park. The highly fancied Redlegs booted the first nine goals of the game before Pines kicked its first major. Pines managed to go toe-to-toe with the Redlegs from the five minute mark of the third term, booting eight goals to nine in that period, eventually going down 18.8 (116) to 8.7 (55). While some of the higher profile players for the Redlegs were a little quiet, the likes of Robbie Turnbull, Jordan Capkin…

PENINSULA LEAGUE EDITHVALE-ASPENDALE pulled off one of the most amazing results in memory on Saturday when it held on to draw against Frankston YCW and subsequently, snatch a last gasp spot in the top five. The Eagles broke a four game losing streak to pull off the draw, a result that was a long way from anyone’s wildest imagination prior to the match. Edithvale-Aspendale had struggled with injuries and lost its place in the top bracket at the hands of Seaford. Having to beat top of the table YCW was remote and although Seaford was odds-on to lose to Mt…

NEPEAN LEAGUE ROSEBUD made it nine wins in succession against Somerville in the qualifying final on Saturday, withstanding a last quarter surge to win by seven points. For three and a half quarters at Red Hill Recreation Reserve, Rosebud completely dominated the Eagles. However, trailing by five goals at three quarter time, the Eagles changed things around in the last term, won the ball on the outside and outscored Rosebud 4.6 to 1.1 to almost steal the match. The momentum swung in the game when Rosebud gave away two free kicks in the goal square, resulting in two goals before…

NEPEAN LEAGUE THREE years and three days or a total of 1099 days – that’s how long it had been since the Tyabb Football Club had been on its losing streak. The Yabbies last win had come in the final home and away round of the 2013 season against Somerville. On Saturday, facing 50 straight losses in a row, Tyabb broke the drought, dominating for four quarters to beat Pearcedale by 37 points, 13.8 (86) to 6.13 (49). The Yabbies booted the first 11 goals of the game before Travis Bravo kicked the Panthers first at the 18 minute mark…

PENINSULA LEAGUE KARINGAL put a week of turmoil behind it on Saturday, ending Edithvale-Aspendale’s 2016 season. It was a massive game for both footy clubs at Ballam Park, the Bulls hoping to respond to the resignation of their coach Michael Triep on Tuesday, while the Eagles needed to win to reclaim their place in the top five. Edithvale now needs to beat Frankston YCW at home in the final home and away game of the season while hoping that Mt Eliza can beat Seaford, who is currently in fifth spot. The Tigers are two points clear on 34 points. Karingal…

PENINSULA LEAGUE SEAFORD is in the top five after beating Karingal at Miles Reserve in MPNFL Peninsula Division on Saturday. The Tigers crept into the top bracket after Edithvale were beaten by Mornington, however, the chances of Seaford maintaining that spot is questionable given they don’t play this weekend and Edithvale play Karingal. Seaford played its round 17 game against Pines on the Queen’s Birthday weekend and went down by more than 10 goals. Karingal won’t be a lay down opposition for Edithvale at Ballam Park this weekend but given the Eagles have a place in the finals at stake,…

NEPEAN LEAGUE SOMERVILLE has locked in a top three place on the MPNFL Nepean Division ladder following a strong fighting win against Red Hill on Saturday. The Eagles once again withstood a relentless opposition that refused to concede defeat, despite the fact that the Eagles appeared to put the Hillmen away a couple of times in the second half, winning 12.14 (86) to 10.9 (69). After a solid performance against Hastings last week, where they withstood a late charge from the Blues, it was always going to be interesting to see how Somerville backed up. The home side booted the…

NEPEAN LEAGUE IT was mixed emotions for Sorrento Football Club on Saturday. While a legend of the club in Brent ‘Sticks’ Kenyon was breaking the 25-year games record of Bernie Lynch of 263 games, reigning premier Rosebud was ending a finals streak which dates back to 2007. While it’s mathematically possible that Sorrento can still make finals, they must beat Red Hill in their one remaining game of the season in the final round and hope that Hastings gets belted by Crib Point and Frankston in their final two matches. Sorrento got a taste of finals when Tony Blackford took…

PENINSULA LEAGUE PINES coach Pat Swayne will invite South Umpires Association boss Mark Mounsey to the club this week to explain some rules to his charges after he was left frustrated and bewildered after his side went down to Mornington by 17 points in MPNFL Peninsula Division on Saturday. Swayne said that in his 18 years in senior football, never has he used poor umpiring as an excuse to his players. Things changed on Saturday, Swayne conceding that he could “legitimately” use the umpires as an excuse in their loss to the Doggies. “We were bad at times, however, our…