SATURDAY’S round one Western Border Football League senior matches saw massive blow-outs in final scores, with Casterton Sandford on the wrong side of the line.

With the third game of the round the traditional South Gambier/North Gambier Anzac Day match, played yesterday (match incomplete at time of going to print), Saturday saw East Gambier host Millicent at McDonald Park and the Cats head over the border to face the West Gambier Roos at Malseed Park.

Finishing sixth and just one drawn match shy of West in 2022 and with both clubs posting key signings from neighbouring leagues, Saturday’s match could have been expected to be a fairly close tussle.

But the Cats’ inability to move and dispose of the ball quickly and accurately, pitted against West’s speed across the ground and – particularly in the second half – a lack of consistency in umpiring, which saw tempers flare and concentration lapse, all combined for a massive loss for the Cats.

While the visitors struggled to get the ball into their forward half in the first quarter, the Roos took the bull by the horns, their quick delivery and good positioning seeing West’s first major on the board inside three minutes and the second, courtesy of an uncontested mark well inside the 50, less than a minute after that.

A quick reshuffle in the Cats’ backline and inaccurate kicking by the West forwards saw the tide stemmed and just one more major posted, the Roos 3.3 (21) and the Cats failing to bother the scorers at the first break.

A seemingly new-look Cats took the ground in the second term, with Hamish McCrae roving his own ruck efforts at the first centre bounce, quick hands seeing the ball cleared to Adam McKinnon, who sent a short kick in front of a leading Gabe Parsons.

Parsons delivered a long bomb into the Cats’ forward line and while there was no clean mark to be had, Dyl Ayton took full advantage of the loose ball, collecting it up to post the Cats’ first major.

Shortly after, ordinary kicking saw a West set-shot sent out on the full and a second Roos’ effort cut-off at the goal line by Matt Killey.

The home side did not waste a third opportunity, Ben Papps taking a leading mark for one of his three majors for the day, but the Cats responded promptly, Casey Jones making the most of a free kick from a ball-up on the wing, hitting Hamish McCrae with deadly accuracy, who posted his first for the day.

The Roos made one last-ditch effort to post their fifth for the match, but again, the Cats answered the call, hammering the ball forward where new recruit, Michael Krieger, was rewarded for a textbook tackle and kicked his first and only for the dau.

At the end of the term, Casterton Sandford had outscored West for the quarter and went into the major break just a couple of kicks down, 3.0 (18) to the Roos’ 5.4 (34).

From there, the wheels fell off for the Cats.

Despite a yellow card sending West’s Dale Robbins to the bench for a spell after an indiscretion, tempers and nerves were frayed by the Roos’ well-practised poking of the bear, Ayton and some questionable umpiring calls – or lack thereof – including on Tom Foster’s head-first ‘dive’ into the metal panel fencing.

The resulting lack of focus from the Cats saw West piling on four goals by the time the halfway mark of the third term ticked over, before Josh Cottier and Justin Carlin both kicked true.

By the final break, Hamish McCrae had notched-up the Cats’ sixth, while the Roos had posted a further six goals, six behinds for the quarter, with inaccurate kicking and the ball rushed through for minor scores, equally responsible for the margin not being greater.

The blowout continued in the final quarter with the Cats only able to post three behinds, but to their credit again, a combination of West’s poor kicking under pressure and pressure on the ball from the Cats’ last line of defence, saw the Roos convert only six of their 13 scoring shots to majors.