In a match crucial to the fate of both sides in season 2016, it was St Mary’s Salesian who proved to be the hungrier on a typically windy July day at Gillon Oval. For Brunswick NOBSPC the first quarter was eerily similar to the previous week as we conceded five goals to none – including four in the first 10 minutes – from which we could we could not recover.

The NOBs fought back hard in the second quarter with three goals in a row which gave supporters hope that we could claw back the deficit, but St Mary’s put paid to that with a dominant third term in which we were kept scoreless. In fact, we did not score a goal at the Sydney Road end, which was confounding since the wind seemed to favour that direction.

On a tough day, special mentions must be made of Pat Kelly, who simply played his heart out, and Scott Sleep, the club games record-holder who started the season as our non-playing reserves coach and is not only back playing, but was our most dangerous forward on the day and kicked half our score. Both men should be an inspiration to the rest of the club.

So now it all comes down to the last three rounds, when we play Prahran Assumption (10^th) away, Old Paradians (8^th) at home and Whitefriars (7^th) away. Whether we remain in Division One is in our own hands so every bit of support will most definitely help. Please do what you can to get down to these games to cheer on the boys as they look to finish off the season!