CITY Heat have caused the upset of the season, downing a previously undefeated St Therese by eight goals (35-27) to keep the race for third and fourth red-hot in the Victorian Men’s and Mixed Netball Association (VMMNA) Men’s Premier Division. Keeping their finals hopes alive in the process, the Heat became the first team to topple St Therese in the 2021/22 M-League season.

Going into the game without star midcourter Riley Richardson, the ladder leaders were thrown immediately onto the back foot, with City Heat racing to a five-goal lead at quarter time. James Matthews piled on seven goals, and Ben Gosbell five, for the Heat to lead 12-7 at the first break. By comparison the Heat defence had kept the St Therese shooting combination of Connor Lilly and Tom Hardwick (combined four goals) and Sam Bury (three) under wraps.

Lilly went into wing attack for the second, with Hardwick chosen to partner Bury in the goal circle, and it seemed to pay dividends as St Therese scored nine goals to six in the second term to close the gap to just two goals at the main break. Jake Hederics did well on Matthews in the quarter, cutting him back to just the two majors, as James Sutton coming on at wing defence to give Tristan Comans a break also seemed to mix things up for St Therese.

The third term is where the game broke open, with City Heat scoring 10 goals to three and leading 28-19 at the final break in what was a dominant defensive display. Goal keeper Al Punshon was outstanding, pairing up with Thomas Gilberto who came on in the term, to limit Bury (two goals) and Hardwick (one). Matthews got off the chain again with eight individual goals, and and Jed Christian‘s work through wing attack allowed the Heat to be in control heading into the last.

St Therese managed to cut the deficit by one in the final term, scoring eight goals to two, as Hardwick’s move into goal shooter (six goals) pairing with Lilly who moved back from wing attack into goal attack looked good. Chris Cameron returned to the court in wing attack after being in centre for the first half, to battle against Gosbell who shifted from one end of the court to the other. Christian moved into goal attack to score three goals, as Matthews scored another four.

Overall Matthews piled on 21 goals in the win to be amongst the Heat’s best, but it was hard to overlook the defensive combination efforts of Punshon and a rotation of goal defences from Tim Marshall, Gilberto and Simon Cartwright all partnering with Punshon to limit the St Therese flow. For St Therese, Sutton’s move into wing defence after sitting out the first term appeared to be a good one, but it would not be enough. The loss of Richardson in the midcourt hurt the ladder leaders, but luckily they still look to be the team to beat when at full strength.

In other results, Ariels caused Southern Seahawks more pain, with a fairly comprehensive 14-goal win over the once undefeated side three rounds ago. Since then, the side has dropped three games and has somewhat tumbled down the table, and will look to quickly arrest that form in the final round. The 52-38 loss was compounded y actual physical pain to Seahawks key shooter Danny Loats who went down with an ankle injury in the first half. The Ariels were still on top at that stage, leading 24-21, but pulled away in the final term, with a 15 goals to seven quarter.

Dan King was sensational all game, up against Loats early – who scored 15 goals before going off – and then taking on Terron King (eight goals) for the remainder of the game. Wing attack Matt Blomeley and centre Wade Atkins dominated the midcourt, with Dan Stone playing another consistent gam in goal defence.

Meanwhile DDNA has kept its mini-run going with another victory, this time against Sirens by 11 goals. It was a comprehensive display from DDNA who, after only leading by five goals at the final break, pulled away with a 13-6 final term to win, 53-41. Brayden Pastore and Jake Dambrauskas were among the top Doncaster players on the court.

Heading into the final round of the season, St Therese will secure top spot with a bye in Round 10, whilst Netblacks will be second having had the bye last night,. From there, it is a three-horse race to secure the final two spots, with Southern Seahawks (20 points), DDNA (18) and City Heat (16) all in contention. The Seahawks can breathe a sigh of relief given DDNA takes on City Heat, meaning that even if Seahawks lose a fourth consecutive game, they will still have either third or fourth, with the winner of the DDNA-City Heat clash booking the other semi-finals spot.

M-LEAGUE ROUND 9 RESULTS:

City Heat (35) defeated St Therese (28)
Ariels (52) defeated Seahawks (38)
DDNA (53) defeated Sirens (41)