WBFL - Seniors

A LAST-quarter stir from the Tigers and the Cats playing a man down for half of the term, almost saw a reversal of their impressive round-eight turnaround win.

But Casterton Sandford on home soil is a tough machine and the Island Park advantage saw the Cats hold off North Gambier for a two-goal win at the weekend.

My report on the South Gambier game began with me writing about the game being a winter sport and the terrible conditions; well Island Park was bathed in sunlight and the ground, apart from a gaping wound around the boundary in front of the grandstand, where I guess a truck or tractor has been bogged, was in top condition.

A large crowd of Casterton-Sandford supporters were in attendance hoping to see their Cats win the battle of the Felines against the Tigers of North Gambier in these ideal conditions.

The game started with a fine tap from Hamish McCrae to Justin Carlin, who was quickly beset from all sides by Tigers and the umpire called for the return of the Sherrin and a ball up.

North then claimed the next knock and quickly went forward where Justin McConnell gained possession and kicked truly, North had the first goal on the board in less than a minute.

The next bounce went the same way but this time it was a goal to Sam Stafford - two goals to North in a minute-and-a-half.

North went forward again at the next bounce, but were cut off by President Ayton who sent the ball back via Gabe Parsons and then Ethan Currie, who was able to get the ball into the Cats’ forward line, but it was sent back towards North Gambier’s end, where Stafford kicked his second goal - three goals to North in five minutes.

North was on a roll as Stafford kicked his third goal less than a minute later; North were up by four goals at the six-minute mark and despite the sunshine, things looked dark for the Cats.

Ed Pritchard has been a shining light since coming to the Cats; he has the ability to escape all tackles, with great awareness of his surrounds and strong hips, but North decided the best way to slow Ed down was to go for the head, not once but twice – the umpire put the whistle to his lips to give a head-high free to Pritchard but he didn't have time to wait, kicking the Cats’ first goal and showing the courage needed to win and inspiring his team-mates.

The Cats then got on a roll of their own, Adam McKinnon twisting and turning to get around three opponents and deliver the ball to Dillan Carlin who in-turn passed to Billy Galpin, who snapped the Cats’ second goal; the Cats’ third goal coming a couple of minutes later when Diarmid Cleary spotted Cats speedster, Joshua Cottier, running into space,

Cottier took the mark and kicked through the big sticks from 30 metres out.

The Cats won the next centre clearance as Alistair McCrae proved too strong in the ruck for his North opponent and the Cats went forward again, where Cottier spotted Dillan Carlin on the lead.

Carlin took a strong mark in front of his opposite number and went back and banged through the Cats’ forth goal, tying things up.

North fought hard in the middle to get the ball again going their way, but the Cats defenders - Ayton, Matt Killey, Tom Foster and Co - put up a brick wall and sent the Sherrin back time and again, usually through Parsons, Cleary and Currie.

The next Cats goal came about when Currie and Cleary combined with Ayton to get the ball to Al McCrae, who took a strong contested mark and kicked the Cats’ fifth goal.

McCrae soon after kicked the Cats’ sixth after some good work by Dillan Carlin and Zac Nash to get him the ball.

Ten goals in a quarter between the two teams was a terrific effort, but the Cats had also kicked six behinds after the early onslaught by the Tigers and could have been even further in front.

Quarter-time: Casterton Sandford 6.6.42, North Gambier 4.0.24.

The second quarter saw North win the first centre clearance, but the Cats’ backs were giving nothing easy away.

Jack Thompson stood tall and Billy Galpin was at the fall of every ball and then running up field to be the next option.

McConnell for North shifted further behind the Cats and was able to lead his troops from defence, through the Cats’ army, to again deliver the ball to Stafford in the forward line, two more goals to North and the Cats were again looking in trouble.

The big hairy Cats in Nic Schembri, Justin Carlin and Al McCrae started to give North some worries as they hit packs hard and took solid marks to again slow the run of the Tigers and get the ascendancy back for Casterton-Sandford.

Billy Galpin sent the ball long into the Cats’ forward-50 where Justin Carlin was able to get a handball to Hamish McCrae who kicked the Cats’ seventh goal.

The Cats continued to push hard forward and Pritchard did a big run along the wing to find Justin Carlin at the 50, just before the siren went.

 Justin then went back and sent the Sherrin through at three-quarter post height.

The Cats holding a 16-point lead at half-time

Half-time: Casterton Sandford 8.9.57, North Gambier 6.5.41.

 The Cats were the fast starters in the third quarter as Foster and Ayton combined to get the ball to where Cleary hand balled to the running Galpin, who then kicked the Cats’ ninth goal.

The next Cats goal started off the half-back flank, when Matt Killey delivered long to Adam McKinnon who in turn got the ball to Cottier; Cottier then was able to deliver the ball to Al McCrae, who hand balled to Nash who kicked the goal.

The Cats continued to press forward for little reward, a few behinds, as North got players back, but then after 10 minutes of no goals, one of those funny incidents that gets the crowd up and about occurred.

Billy Galpin had been setting up plays all day and was probably the leading possession getter; he had the ball on the edge of the centre square and was looking to send the ball to a pack of players.

The pack came forward and Galpin’s ball went over the pack and then bounced a couple of times over an unguarded goal line to get the Cats moving again.

Jack Thompson kicked the next two goals for the Cats - his first after he was pushed solidly in the back and the second from a mark a couple of minutes later after a centring kick by Cottier.

The Cats holding a commanding 46-point lead going into the three-quarter-time huddle.

Three-quarter-time: Casterton-Sandford 13.12.90, North Gambier 6.8.44.

 A shadow came over Island Park in the last quarter as Cat fans gathered their coats, scarves and beanies and the North supporters headed home early; the cars leaving must have enraged the North Players as they dominated the last quarter and almost caused a boil over.

The Cats players had given their all in the first three quarters and a bit, but then they just started to look a bit tired, battered and bruised from a physical encounter against some bigger bodies.

A yellow card saw the Cats down a man for 15 minutes and North kicked five unanswered goals, but the Cats dug deep and held the Tigers off, not allowing them to score in the last eight minutes of the game.

A tense final quarter but a character building one, the Cats showing maturity and discipline to take out a much-needed home ground victory.

Final scores: Casterton Sandford 13.14.92, North Gambier 11.10.76.

This week we travel to Malseed Park where we will be taking on the Roos for the third time this year.

West is currently just behind us in the final four, a game and a small amount of percentage, to say this is a must win game for Coach Forbes and his men is an understatement.

WBFL – Under 16

AFTER losing three in a row, the young Cats are still looking for that win to kick-start their season.

Coming up against North Gambier they came in with a good chance, after beating them last they played them.

The boys came out red-hot with excellent back half pressure and smooth ball movement and it followed with the first goal of the day going to the Cats, with Co-Captain Sully Gibbs kicking a beautiful snap from the boundary to get the Cats’ day underway.

But the Tigers answered, with North kicking the next four goals in the first quarter to give themselves a quarter-time lead by 20 points.

The second quarter was very similar to the first, with the Cats having some good pressure and ball movement, but only scoring one goal, by Elwood Geary from a ruck contest and collecting his own ruck work and kicking a goal through a pack.

North still had all the answers, kicking three of their own goals to make the half time lead out to 33 points.

There needed to be a change in the Cats’ group to lift the team for a comeback.

Coming out after half time, the Cats kicked two goals, with Gibbs adding to his goal tally for the day while other co-captain, Mitchell Bright, took a big, contested mark to kick his first from 30 metres out.

North was still playing some good football, the Tigers kicking five more goals to extend the three-quarter time lead out to 53 points.

A big last quarter from the Cats was all the coaches were asking for and the boys kicked two more goals - Sam Craig an easy set shot from 20 out and Bright taking another big, contested mark for him to kick his second goal for the day from 40 metres out.

North on the other hand, only managed to kick one goal in the quarter, making the Cats the winners that quarter.

The final score saw North Gambier run away 51-point winners.

Best players were Bay Mckinon using his run and speed to beat his opponents to the ball, Kaeden Talay a big target up forward while also going into the middle to be a big bull, Dylan Munro was able to use his jumping abilities in the ruck to give his midfielders the best opportunity to get their hands on the ball first,

Mitchell Bright being able to use his skill and mind to help move the ball into the forward 50 while also kicking a couple of goals and Ricky Kaliebe, being able to use his speed to pressure the ball carrier and laying some big tackles.

Next week the boys will want to break and need to break this four-game losing streak to give themselves some confidence to help push for their finals run when they take on West Gambier at Malseed Park.

WBFL – Under 14

ISLAND Park was covered in a blanket of fog early Saturday morning, so thick spectators could barely see from one end to the other.

The Cats struggled early to generate centre clearances and North managed to score the first goal, their one and only for the match.

Meanwhile down the river end Cats scored a couple through Jedd Rhook, one was a clever pass off from Lachie Auld who received a free kick for push in the back in the scoreboard pocket, but was out of his kicking distance, so smartly handballed off; the other was delivered down the wing in a great passage of play from Riley Hutchins to Nate Longhurst, who directed the ball onto Sam Patton marking strongly and kicked long to the square where Rupert Dorahy made space for Jedd to slot another one through the big sticks for the Cats.

Connor Stephens then joined the party and snapped a lovely goal deep in the pocket clubrooms side; he was well assisted this time by Jett Lykke and Takudswa Makore.

Some fantastic work in the backline from Krystal Collier, Kirby Vise, Kelem Blenkiron and Alex Hill denied North a couple more scoring opportunities. At quarter time the cats were thirteen points up.

Coach Kurzman asked the boys in the centre to try to be more straight and direct into the forward line, the team listened and responded immediately with the very first ruck contest Sam tapped straight to Connor Stephens who handballed to Archie Lane who busted out of the pack and fired straight to Jedd down the centre of the ground.

Only a point resulted.

North simply could not get the ball past the centre of the ground and I counted four intercept marks that big Sam Patton took within about six minutes.

There was a ball up in our forward line at the top of the square, Billy Rhook was in and under to drag out the ball and fire cleverly to Brody Pratt who slammed the ball on the boot and snap another goal for the Cats.

Our next score was created by great team work and our kids doggedly working overtime to push the ball forward at every opportunity, Blake Kurzman went up strong to contest and bring the ball to ground perfectly where Jedd scooped the Sherrin up and snapped over the pack of players to score our fifth goal.

Half time scores: Cats 5.3.30, North 1.1.7.

The coach set an aim for the team to kick four goals in the next quarter.

And the team delivered, they had stepped up another level and were dominating all over the ground now.

Connor kicked the first, then Acrhie Lane having a rest off the ball up in the forward line kicked two goals in a row and Jedd kicked the fourth of the quarter and the team had reached the target set.

Three quarter time scores: Cats 9.7.61, North 1.1.7.

In the last quarter, Reghan Parsons had a purple patch and delivered a couple of great gutsy plays to lift his team mates around him.

Ayden Nolte marked strongly and got the ball to our centre-half-forward target Jack Rhook who also had a great presence in the forward line for cats.

Archie Lane kicked another two in the last quarter to score a career high four goals for the match and Jedd Rhook slotted through the team’s last for the day to take his tally to five.

Final scores: Cats 12.7.79, North 1.1.7.

Overall it was a terrific team performance to put the kids back up to third spot on the ladder.

After a little low patch the last few games, let’s hope this kick-starts the second half of the season for them.