The boys from St Patrick’s College will again attempt to extend their reign as Victoria’s premier football school on Saturday as they chase an unprecedented seventh straight Herald Sun Shield.
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The Ballarat outfit will take to the vast expanses of the MCG against Geelong powerhouse St Joseph’s College in the lead-up to Collingwood’s encounter with West Coast.
While the clash presents itself as an excellent opportunity for a new group to etch their name in schoolboy’s football history, the weight of six consecutive titles cannot be underestimated.
Indeed, for this crop of St Pat’s players, victory in the state’s premier competition is all they have known during their high school lives.
Despite flogging semi-finalists MacKillop College by 154 points to advance to the final, St Pat’s coach Howard Clark said it was important his charges remained focused on the task at hand.
“It’s a great thing to play on the ‘G, and for the entire playing group they wouldn’t have played on the MCG before because last year’s final was played in Port Melbourne,” Clark said.
“But we need to take the romance out of it a little bit and remember that we’ve got to win a game of footy.”
Riddled with North Ballarat Rebels, the St Pat’s College starting 22 features a swathe of elite talent including midfielder Tom Williamson, who is in contention for the AFL draft at the end of the year.
However the boys from Ballarat will face a formidable side in St Joseph’s College, who boast up to 15 Geelong Falcons including Jack Henry, who has also been invited to the AFL Draft Combine.
The Geelong outfit was forced to work harder en route to the final, sneaking past Essendon’s Keilor College by seven points.
St Joseph’s co-coach Chris Lynch said his side was excited at the prospect of putting an end to what has become the state’s longest running school football dynasty.
“It’s an opportunity that doesn’t come around too often, especially for boys of this age,” Lynch said. “St Pat’s has been the benchmark for the last five or six years, but in saying that every year is different and we’ve got a very talented team.”
Clark said his side would have to find a way to shut down St Joseph’s’ ball movement if they were to claim the coveted title for a seventh time.
“They move the ball really quickly and run and carry and slingshot off half back, so we need to counteract that and make sure we prevent their run.”