Old Xaverians won their Reserves 15th premiership when they disposed of Old Scotch at Toorak Park today. The grand final, originally scheduled for Elsternwick, a park looking for an ark, was moved late yesterday.

The Caledonians took it up to the X-Men in the early stages, but couldn't draw the twin calicos. In the second term, they finally struck, but Xavs punished them for their audacity and defiance by scoring quickly and pulling away to a 28 point lead.

Tom Simmons, Matt Handley and Ed Ralph controlled the aerial contests in sticky conditions.

The teams traded goals in the third term, but as they went to the lemons, few thought the Old Xavs in any danger. At 9 minutes into the last, the Cards were awarded a ridiculous 50 metre penalty and a goal resulted. A minute later, Charlie Holmes had a set shot that drew the roars of the Xavs crowd, but just the single digit from the goal umpire. Jordy Troiani snapped, the wind caught it, and so did Chopper Handley, a typical desperate diving effort that typified each of his 300 games. He missed with the checkside. Xavs looked a tad too comfortable and their penchant to play a bit cute threatened to cost them when the Cards went forward again, only to miss by a whisker.

A downfield free to the Reds resulted in another goal at 22 minutes. Charlie Woodley went forward to see if he could get on the board, but after taking a mark, he kicked short to a non-existent lead. Tommy Simmons missed - he might have had six on the afternoon had his trusty boot been properly laced. Then Jordy Troiani bombed one from the angle and it was lights out. A twenty-eight point lead and that was all she wrote, aside from the presentations. Troiani won the best on ground medal, and Landrigan's lineup took the cup.

It was a day for defenders. James Dalbosco was outstanding and he was strongly supported by Jack Whitehead, James Langford and Hamish Bowen. Fraser Pearce offered plenty with his run and strong marking.

David Landrigan's team were the cream of the crop all year and their premiership was well deserved.

Two brilliant galleries from Ari Hatzis here and here

Goal Kickers: M. Handley 3, E. Ralph 2, J. Troiani, T. Simmons, L. Soccio

Best Players: J. Dalbosco, H. Bowen, J. Whitehead, F. Pearce, J. Langford, J. Troiani