Teams clear at halfway point

By Ben O’Brien, CEO YVMDFL
THE halfway mark of the First Division has now been reached.
The top five sides have broken away from the pack, with a two-game gap now existing between the fifth-placed Woori Yallock and sixth-placed Gembrook-Cockatoo.
Over the second half of the season, the challenge for the bottom five teams will be to break into finals’ contention, which is likely to prove a difficult task.
A bottom-five team has played a top-five team 25 times so far this season, and the top-five team has won on 22 occasions.
With Monbulk, Healesville and Silvan all recording decisive victories on the weekend, there is a distinct possibility that the two-game gap may increase over the next nine weeks.
However, football is a funny game, as the Socceroos have been proving over the past three weeks and as Woori Yallock showed on Saturday, when they handed Upwey-Tecoma their first loss of the season 14.14 to 9.12.
Damian Monkhorst has been displaying an almost evangelical zeal in echoing the mantra of Kevin Sheedy of “playing the kids”, and his faith was rewarded on the weekend when his young side held its nerve to get across the line in what ended up being a confidence-boosting win.
That loss saw Upwey-Tecoma fall to second on the ladder, as Monbulk did to Belgrave what is expected when the top team plays the bottom and recorded a comprehensive victory.
The gradual return to form of James Cleven (9 goals) and Luke Tolliday (8) and the consistency of Tim Wragg (8) up forward will have plenty of sides worried over the next three months.
Wandin’s form line continued against Silvan.
Over the past three weeks, the team has lost by 56, won by 48, and now lost by 133.
Wandin plays Healesville this week, and would be extremely happy to see the pattern continue.
Silvan is possibly the only side with the firepower to trouble Monbulk, with Mazins (10 goals) and Moorcroft (8), but the Cats’ lack of height across the ground could prove their undoing come September.
They have a chance to stake their claim this week when they host Upwey-Tecoma.
Up at Olinda, Gembrook-Cockatoo moved one game further away from the relegation zone and two games outside the five with a five-goal victory.
Andrew Shipp’s recent run of form continued with five goals and another best-on-ground performance.
Healesville brought Mt Evelyn back to earth with a thud, hammering the Rovers by 102 points with Tom Campbell and Daniel Collins leading the way and Jye Conrau kicking another eight goals, confirming that he is on target to become the second player to kick 100 goals in the YVMDFL this year.
The first player to do so – and the first player in Victoria – was Warburton-Millgrove’s Vincent Muccitelli, who needed three quarters against Yarra Glen to kick the six required.
He finished the day with a return of 7.5 as the Burras were too good for the Thunder.
The Burras take on Alexandra this week, after the Rebels suffered a surprising loss at home to South Belgrave.
It was the second consecutive trip north for the Saints, and the mental toughness shown against Alexandra was a considerable improvement on that shown the week before against Thornton-Eildon.
Alex Bakens was clearly the best key position player on the ground and was too mobile for his opponents, kicking seven goals.
The win sees South outside the four on percentage, but with Alexandra playing Warburton this week and the Saints hosting Seville, that situation could soon be reversed.
Both Thornton-Eildon and Yarra Junction strengthened their grips on second and third place respectively, with both recording comfortable victories over Seville and Emerald.
The Shinboners host the Eagles this week in the match of the round in second division – a match that could go a long way to deciding which team can claim second favouritism for the flag.