After a great training earlier in the week, and a slick warm-up, the A grade side went into the elimination final geared up for an intense match against Caulfield. After the first break South Yarra and Caulfield were even, seeing the crowd more vocal than ever experienced this season! Unfortunately our dominant playing coach Maggie Riley went down early in the 2nd quarter, forced from the court against her will. We then had another two devastating injuries in Lucy Renshaw and Steph O’Dea just after the half time break. In what was clearly our most challenging game with injuries, Steph O’Dea, Hayley Becker, Jess Buerckner, Erin Price, Maggie Riley, Harriet Bacon, Lucy Renshaw, Sarah Hogan and Rebecca Eagleson played with incredible teamwork, positivity and resilience which everyone should be truly proud of. The Caulfield coach specifically sought us out after the game to complement our sportsmanship and skill, and mentioned that had we not suffered the injuries, we were a real chance to win. Jess Buerckner created many turnovers in defense then switched ends at half time, sinking many goals to earn her our best on finals player. A huge thank you to Harriet, Bec, and Carrie James for being a great asset to our final team, and to the many members of our lioness cheer squad! A beautiful group of women on and off the court who should be very proud of today’s efforts! Caulfield 38 South Yarra 27.

It was perhaps the best win on Saturday for the Thirds in their history. Since their inception into the competition, no Thirds side had ever beaten Skye and certainly not on their home deck. In fact, in very few years have the Thirds even managed to get a full team out at Skye. Earlier in the year a player from Skye remarked that their game against the Yarras was “easier than a training run”. This was added motivation for the Yarras, and we led at quarter time, down by 11 points at half time, we closed the margin to just 8 points at three quarter time. From there, the Yarras found another gear and ran over the top of Syke, Ryan Dore icing the game with two unbelievable snaps from the pocket. Everyone lifted their intensity in the last quarter, in what was a truly magnificent win, which all but ensures a top four finish and double chance in the finals. The egalitarian Coach Dallas, decided to split the votes evenly amongst all the players, in what was a brilliant team display.

The Reserves played a depleted Sandown team that were defeated before the first bounce. The birthday boy, Fitzpatrick kicked the first four goals of the game and finished with six goals. Buckets kicked five goals and Khoury chimed in for three goals. A ninety-nine point third quarter assisted the Yarras in beating the wounded Cobras by 173 points.

After last week’s loss to Ashwood the seniors took on Sandown knowing that they need other results to go their way if they are going to feature in finals. The Yarras started with a bang with 2 goals in the blink of an eye, Sandown bunkered down only allowing another four for the quarter while kicking 1 themselves. A 9 goal quarter in the second saw the 100 up by half time, the backline moved the ball with pace and the talls of Russell, MacDonald, Taz and Hanney were dominant. To the oppositions credit they continued to fight as hard as they could but there was little stopping the Yarras. The second half saw 153 points kicked to 1 goal with Pane and Jerry both kicking one each after spending the year down back. A 220 point win was the final result with Keki, Ardern and Villella again dominant.

Thank you to our past players for coming down and supporting the club.

Also, thank you to Andrew Volpetti for organising an entertaining trip around the world.

Presentation night is on 23rd Sept. 2017, start booking your seats!

Special thank you to all of our sponsors including Brady Tiling, Hawthorn Hotel, Kingston Trophies, Rounds Real Estate, Simply Health, Q Dental, Hunter Industrials, Eleven Ten Advisory, Melbourne Periodantal, Safety-Wear, Avon Tyrepower, Yo Get It, Signs Here, Rainbow Meats, Helloworld, Flight Centre, Inner Eastern Physio, Coltivare Fruit Supply, McKenzie Allen Lawyers, Bendigo Bank (Surrey Hills/ Canterbury/ Ashburton/ Balwyn), The Swan Street Auctions, Merchant Electrical, Juventino Café Restaurant, RPJ Internet Solutions and all 250 Club, past player members, partners and all Player sponsors.