Clash of the titans: Undefeated sides to meet Sunday

A BLOCKBUSTER matchup awaits St Mary’s this weekend, with the club travelling to Drew Oval for a standalone Sunday fixture in Round 7.

St Mary’s 6-0 start will be put to the test when it takes on the only other unbeaten Geelong Football League outfit, St Joseph’s.

Saints co-coach Glenn Keast said excluding the shared history of himself and Joeys coach Ron Watt, who both experienced premiership success as players and coaches at North Shore, his boys were excited for the occasion.

“Ron’s [Watt] a great motivator and developer of people, so I have no doubt his influence is coming through on that group.

“They’re a bit older than us, a bit more experienced, and their form stacks up against us, they’ve played a similar run of sides to us and dispatched them all in a similar vein.

“They’re certainly shaping up one of the teams to beat this season, if not going 6-0, they’re right up and about and we expect a great contest.”

St Mary’s has remained steady in its first couple of months of action, racking up convincing wins against Newtown & Chilwell, reigning premiers Leopold, Geelong West, Grovedale, South Barwon and Lara.

The retirements of Doug Bond and Ryley Hall has forced Keast to look at alternative options alongside new co-coach Luke Rayner on how to keep the side’s potency.

Coupled with the forward potential of Paddy Dowling (Geelong Amateur), and Nick Nott (Geelong Amateur) and Nick Stevens (Glenelg) departing the club last year, Keast said this year’s inclusions to the side had filled the void.

“We felt last year there was an opportunity there to go out and get a pure ruck, especially with Sam Christensen playing a lot of the season in the ruck.

“And while Sam has played every game for us this season and he is a very versatile player for us, we needed that dedicated ruck in the side, and we feel Nick [Minchin] is what we think we were missing in 2023.

“He works very hard around the ground and gives our midfielders good support in the air and on the ground, and Elijah Wales has come in from Myrtleford and has given us a bit of experience, so he has become a very valuable asset to us.”

Keast and the Saints begin their meeting against Joeys this Sunday, June 2 from 2.20pm.