It was a triple treat for the Animals Men on Saturday, with the Thirds relying on some legends of the past to secure their first win since Round 5, and begin a day of winning for the club.

Led by the most recent of the group to scale back their playing time in Michael Davis, including the likes of former stalwarts Anthony Muling, Max Pringle and William Carpenter, it would be a slow and steady start in the early timeslot at Bennettswood.

Kicking with a stiff breeze in the first, the Animals would eventually make good on a number of chances, and manage to keep the Demons from down the road scoreless in the first.

However Box Hill North would utilise their time with the breeze in the second, and make the Animals pay for repeated inaccuracies in front of goal to drag the margin within a solitary point at the main break.

Up stepped Michael Davis. The older of the three playing Davis’ after a raft of sighters beforehand found his radar to kickstart the Animals in the third, which would result in a three goal to one third term.

High flying ruckman Fletcher Cooper and key forward Brendan Ellwood would join in on the goalkicking fun, and gift the Animals a handy 15 point lead as both sides turned for home.

Sam Cordy added another midway through the final term to all but seal away the result, and despite a late goal from BHN and some last ditch attempts to drag the margin back even further, the Thirds would ground out a well-earned 16 point win.

WP 5.9.39
BHN 3.5.23

G: B.Ellwood 2, F.Cooper, S.Cordy, M.Davis
B: F. Cooper, J. Rodda, M. Davis, G. Burgess, N. Rodway, B. Ellwood

The Reserves then set about shoring up their top 4 credentials after a thumping victory the week before.

However a slow start at a blustery St James Park followed with only four goals kicked with the aid of the breeze toward Burwood Rd.

Despite being shaken by the slight name change of road, the second saw an improved performance with leading goalkicker Matt Price beginning to find his form from earlier in the season as the Animals doubled their lead in to the main break, helped by another strong defensive peformance holding the Pigs to only 2 points kicking with the wind.

A half time reset was the tonic needed to kick away for the twos, as they went from doubling their lead to doubling their score in a dominant display of ball movement and execution despite a shrinking bench, with Cooper Walter and Jack Hernan coming together in a case of friendly fire. Both men thankfully appear to have escaped more than cosmetic injury.

A 5 goal to 4 final quarter may not have been the completed picture coach Josh Webb may have been after, but a return of 7 goals from Matt Price and four from the older Anthony Smith will certainly help ease the worries ahead of a tricky run home to the finals.

SWI 7.7.49
WP 17.10.112

G: M. Price 7, A. Smith 4, J. Nelson 2, J. Anker 2, A. Smith 2
B: M. Price, J. Hernan, R. Kuhnell, J. Anker, G. Rollo-Walker, J. Sibley

A return to winning ways was necessary for the Animals seniors to continue the push for the final spot in the top 4 of Division 3, with the promise of Euroforcements arriving soon.

A one-win Swinburne Uni senior side was the first domino in a three game make-or-break stretch for the finals push, and would be a harder prospect than some initially gave credit for.

Therefore a 9 goal to 1 opening term was crucial in breaking the Pigs spirit at home and creating the buffer that would seperate the two sides all day.

The opening quarter blitz, whilst ultimately proving too large a hill for Swinburne to climb, did not deter the Razorbacks from kicking 5 themselves in the second term to pull the lead back to within 6 kicks at the main break.

That would be as close as the home side would get, as a clinical third term, featuring a dominant display from returning ruckman Sean “Spider” Bourke in game 49, would push the lead back out past 10 goals.

Third gamer Tom Elliot would cap his July of Senior football with his first goal as he continued to impress at the highest grade.

Midfield workhorse Jacob Glare was pleased with the sides ability to put last round’s loss behind them.

“We got back to our style of footy a bit more this week, everyone played well and the ball usage was pretty good.“

Swinburne would launch one final counter in the final term to put a respectable score on the board, but it was never enough to challenge the Animals.

“We had to grind the game out Swinburne tried to stick around as long as they could with us but couldn’t” said Glare.

A return to goalkicking form for Matt Hill and Nathan Bird saw them both kick four majors along with star halfback Baxter Newbegin.

The win means that Saturday’s final clash with Power House AFC for the season could ultimately decide the fate for both teams this year, and end the Albert Park club’s push for finals.

SWI 14.6.90
WP 22.14.146

G: M. Hill 4, N. Baxter 4, N. Bird 4, D. Hill 3, J. Greensides 2, Z. Kearns, J. Moran, H. Schaeche, T. Elliott, M. Lamb
B: N. Bird, J. Glare, M. Hill, S. Bourke, N. Baxter, S. Argus