Bennettswood Reserve will have hopefully already been witness to two Emmaus St Leo’s wins before the senior men take the field at 2:00pm on April 10. The Animals’ women’s team take on familiar foes in Bulleen-Templestowe early in the morning to kick off proceedings, before the club finally gets its opportunity to unfurl the 2019 reserve premiers flag before they begin their 2021 campaign. For the senior men, their opponent is the Westbourne Grammarians.
2019 was an arguably disappointing season for those at Emmaus St Leo’s, as a sombre loss in the preliminary final against the Manningham Cobras was compounded as they waved goodbye to one of their club champions in Paul Baranello. After finishing 3rd on the ladder, the belief was high for the Animals to get their chance at the big dance, and a big win against Canterbury in the semi-final only added fuel to a fire that was cruelly snuffed out the following week. 2021 is no doubt a redemption year as they look to go one better. And redemption will be a familiar friend to Westbourne this year too, after narrowly missing finals and finishing 5th on the ladder after 7 wins and 7 losses.
Head-to-head, 2019 resulted in one win each as both teams ended up victors away from home. In 2021, the Animals and the Warriors will face each other three times, with the fixture dictating two of those games to be played on Westbourne’s home turf. An injection of youth into the Emmaus St Leo’s men’s squad has seen them expand to field a Thirds side this year and will no doubt help in their quest for finals glory, while Westbourne have retained some pretty key players to help in theirs.
The team named for Saturday sees a lot of familiar faces returning, while boosted by a few unfamiliar faces who have undoubtedly impressed during preseason.
Sam Argus will start the game at fullback, with Tom Clarke, who is fresh from coaching the reserves to a premiership flag in 2019, and seasoned backman Joden Crothers either side while at halfback, there’s a formidable trio named in Nathan Bird, Baxter Newbegin and Ben Collins. Notable speedsters Kieran Mair and Matt Hill will run the wings, while in the centre Mitchell Burrows will take ruck duties as he pulls on the blue and blue for the first time off the back of a comprehensive preseason, with Ethan Phillips, Hugh Schaeche and Lawrence Virgo at his feet. Sam Barrah will run out in the forward line with the seniors for the first time despite playing two games for the reserves in 2018, joined by fellow seniors-debutant Kye Roberts, Animals royalty and returning captain Harry Davis, and Sean Bourke, who is likely to share the ruck duties also. At full forward, Dan Hill and Jack Hunt return to kick off their goalkicking tallies. No team is complete without a bench, and named on the Animals interchange is Zac Kearns, Zac Durrant, Michael Davis, and first-gamer Callum Dickinson.
Notable outs include Baranello, 2019 captain Chris Beluzsar, Brent Simons and dynamic ruckmen Kevin Moloney and Jonathan O’Connor, all of which are not returning to the Animals, at least for the 2021 season.
Emmaus St Leo’s men’s seniors will be looking to cap off an already-successful day for the club as they take the field at 2:00pm. 2019 ended too soon for those in the blue and blue, and despite a reserves premiership celebration that probably would have continued well into 2020, the senior men have some wrongs to right. Get down to Bennettswood Reserve this Saturday to see them begin their 2021 campaign in true Animals style.
