VFL match report: Stefanakis sinks Frankston after the siren

09/03/2026

Andreas Stefanakis was the hero for Sandringham in our final practice match against Frankston on Saturday, with the new Zebra keeping his cool to convert after the siren and seal a brilliant two-point victory.

The 13.11 (89) to 13.9 (87) win came after a frenetic final few minutes at Belvedere Reserve in Seaford as we kicked the final four goals of the contest to clinch a thriller, having found ourselves down by as much as 23 points in the final term despite leading at three-quarter time.

VFL Senior Coach Daniel Ward said the win was reward for effort for the group, who continued to fight in the face of a growing margin and a dwindling game clock late in the final term.

“I think the game was probably on our terms at three-quarter time,” Ward said.

“There was a bit of the breeze going into the end that we had, so, being a (newly standalone) club, we wanted to come home with a win.

“I was probably a little bit disappointed with the first 10 minutes of the last quarter, but for the boys to show the ability to dig in and not give up, and to end up winning it with the last kick, was great reward for their persistence.”

It was a hot start to the final practice hit out as both sides attacked the ball with ferocity from the jump, and it was no surprise that skipper Blake Watson had his fingerprints all over our first goal, keeping his feet to win a hard ball on the wing which resulted in a Jack Ferraro major.

We upped the pressure from there, at one point squeezing Frankston through the middle of the ground and forcing a turnover, with Jess Gedi, Zac Greeves and Ferraro linking up nicely to deliver it on a platter to Daniel Pinter, who nailed the set shot for our second, although it was the Dolphins that led at the first break by three points.

Livewire Willis Reidy set the game alight in the second quarter, delivering a highlight with a beautiful crumb and snap for the first of his two goals of the term, either side of another to Ferraro, while Josh Hutchings and Brodie Atkins scrapped hard aerially and at the coalface, respectively, as their influence on the game grew.

Elite tackling pressure forced plenty of turnovers, too, with our ability to compete at stoppage a big reason why we entered the main break with a 5.5 (35) to 4.8 (32) advantage, and an even bigger tick in the eyes of the coach.

“The boys were really competitive and applied pressure,” Ward said.

“Frankston are a really highly skilled side, so you need to put pressure on them.

“The majority of the time I was happy with our ability to put pressure on and defend the right way, so I’m really happy with that aspect of the game.”

The third term was more of an arm wrestle as we kicked against the wind, going goal for goal with the Dolphins, but it was a bit of Greeves magic that ensured we preserved our lead at the final change, snagging two goals in as many minutes to hand us a slender one-point advantage at three-quarter time.

While Frankston kicked away to start the final quarter, leaping out to a 23-point advantage, there were still plenty of moments to keep the Zebs enthused, with Mitchell Ryan nailing a chase down tackle to stop a Dolphins fast break, Tom O’Rourke taking a gutsy mark backing into a pack inside defensive 50, Adrian Cole halving plenty of one-on-one contests and Jet Peckett sticking his head over the ball to win it at the source.

Slowly but surely the wheel began to turn, though, as Darcy Chirgwin slotted back-to-back goals in quick succession, bringing the margin back to 10 points with four minutes remaining to instil some belief and ramp up the intensity, which was whipped up to the maximum following another Zebs goal with 40 seconds left on the clock to cut the Dolphins’ lead back to four points.

While Frankston won the final centre clearance, Owen Bater beat his opponent to claim the mark, which was pumped long to a pack inside our forward 50 before spilling to ground, where Stefanakis won possession while being taken high, with the umpire paying him a free kick 40 metres out, directly in front, with the siren sounding as he lined up for goal.

The moment didn’t overawe the new Zebra, though, as he duly converted, much to the delight of the throng of Sandringham supporters that made the trip.

The win marks our first success of the preseason games, which was obviously pleasing for the coaches, however it was the fact that the group was able to rectify certain issues from the prior losses that most satisfied Ward.

“Probably just our ability to defend for long enough with our lapses in games (needed work),” he said.

“Footscray, in the first practice match, put eight goals on us in a quarter, and then the game got away from us a little bit where our effort dropped off, and Coburg kicked five or six goals in the last quarter last week.

“So, it was just the ability to make sure that we kept that intensity up and our defensive pressure (that needed attention), and I thought we did that.”

Attention now turns to Round One of the season proper, which will see us take on Port Melbourne at Wilson Storage Trevor Beach Oval on Sunday, March 22, for our first standalone game in over 25 years.

“We’re looking forward to it,” Ward said.

“We've lost a couple of boys over the last couple of days, but we've had some others that have been looking for opportunity.

“Whoever’s lucky enough to pull on one of those 23 jumpers for our first standalone game in 26 years will definitely have a crack, and hopefully we get the four points.”

Match summary

SANDRINGHAM 2.2, 5.5, 9.9, 13.11 (89)

FRANKSTON 2.5, 4.8, 9.8, 13.9 (87)

GOALS
Reidy 3, Greeves, Ferraro, Chirgwin 2, Pinter, Hutchings, Philactides, Stefanakis

Written by Alexander Dabb - Sandringham FC Media