Round 9 Match Reports (2025)

As we returned from the traditional King’s Birthday Bye, The Midday Show prepared to take on Chadstone for the second time this season. Along with the usual suspects who come along to watch the Trobers in action, we also welcomed a number of former Trobers, including Life Members & Premiership heroes, who came down to Tony Sheehan Oval for the club’s Past Players Day. La Trobe also celebrated the first of two milestones for the day with former Reserves Skipper Cameron “Suga” Marcroft playing his 50^th game for the club.

The Trobers won the coin toss and kicked with a very strong breeze in the first term. Thanks to some early dominance in the middle of the ground by Cameron Marcroft & Ruben Cottee, our forwards received plenty of opportunities. Ernie Fan was the first to benefit as he slotted the first 2 goals for the term, and was quickly joined by co-captain Austin Bennett who kicked 2 himself but it was mid-season recruit Tom Burns who benefited the most as he slotted 4 goals to finish out the term, and give the Trobers a 55-point lead going into the quarter time break.

The messaging coming out of the break was to protect the footy into the wind and not play “millionaire footy” as the Trobers looked to extend their lead. An unfortunate injury to Gus McCaffrey, later found to be a broken leg, saw some shifting of the magnets from the coaches.

The second term started much the same as the first with La Trobe controlling the footy across the ground. The defence were not intimidated by the strong breeze, with Mark “Mobbla” O’Brien & Xavier “The Crane” Scott taking intercepts marks and repelling a number of Chadstone’s forays forward. At the other end of the ground Austin Bennett kicked two more to take his total to 4 goals at halftime, and was joined by Bryce “Bruce” Dowler & Finlay “Fingers” Stewart who also kicked majors. La Trobe entered the long break with a 70-point lead.

The half-time message was to stay the course, keep up the pressure across the field & maintain “good habits”. La Trobe headed out to start the third term without their main engine room operator Ruben Cottee as he pulled up short with a suspected hamstring injury.

The unfortunate injury to Ruben meant the third term saw Elliot Stevenson take on even more prominence in the midfield racking up clearances all over the ground. The Trobers continued to control the ball, but some wayward kicking saw them not take full advantage. There were still some positives in the term as Austin Bennett slotted his 5^th, Bruce Dowler added a second, but probably the highlight of the term was co-captain Connor Burns slotting his first goal for the Club. Trobers led by 94 points at the three-quarter time break.

The final term saw the Trobers looking to “finish the job” and add their 7^th win for the season. The term started much the same as the rest with the Trobers getting first use and moving the ball forward, some hard running on the wing from James Boussounis helped set-up Aussie’s 6^th goal, Tom Burns kicked his 5^th and Elliot Stevenson added a major to his already impressive day. La Trobe finished the day with an impressive 95-point victory and cemented themselves in 3^rd spot on the ladder at the halfway point of the season.