WBFL - Reserves
JOE McArlein’s men have looked like a premiership contender in patches but haven’t been able to put 20 minutes together in a quarter, let alone a four-quarter effort - until the weekend, when they posted a 102-point win over the East Gambier Bulldogs.
The Ressies have been thereabouts in the past three games without getting the win, going down by less than five goals in each of those games.
East are struggling for numbers and Justin Beecher and Chris McKinnon put their hands up to help them out, both players more than filled a role for the Doggies, gaining plenty of the ball and laying some strong tackles - good onya fellas.
The first quarter saw the Cats get the early jump on goals when Bradley Millard intercepted a boundary kick out, back after several seasons from a serious knee injury.
It’s great to see Millard back as he was a very talented junior who could have gone beyond Western Border with his abilities, if not for the injury.
Michael Jarrad soon followed up Millard’s intercept and goal with one of his own and the Cats were up, two goals to zip.
East Gambier tightened up its defences with the help of Beecher and McKinnon, the Cats taking another eight-minutes to break through before Connor Hill centred the ball to Millard, who marked and goaled.
The Cats kept peppering the goals, with several behinds being the outcome until Rhys Jolly, having followed his man forward, snapped the Cats’ fourth goal late in the quarter.
Former Sandford senior coach, Ali Scott, now a bench coach for East seniors, had pulled the jumper on for the Doggies’ Ressies and toe poked a behind to get the red and black on the board.
The Cats had winners across the park with Bevan and Corey Wombwell getting clearance after clearance, Casey Jones and Fletcher Bright getting in and under the packs and Jarvis Parsons and Pat Milich winning in the air.
Quarter-time: Casterton Sandford 4.6.30, East Gambier 0.1.1
The second quarter saw the Cats continue their dominance with a bit more accurate kicking, particularly to star forward and Under 14 Coach, Matt Kurzman.
Kurzman had been presenting an option in the first quarter but was foiled by several opponents and some poor delivery, but this changed in the second quarter.
Kurzman kicked five goals for the quarter, working well with Connor Hill - who also kicked a goal - Matthew Smith and Millard.
East were also able to kick a goal; thanks to a strong tackle by Chris McKinnon the ball was able to be turned around from the Cats’ half and East made the most of a limited opportunity.
Ranea King, Coach McArlein, Kane Forbes, Corey Wombwell, Milich and Parsons kept the ball moving through the middle.
Half-time: Casterton Sandford 10.6.66, East Gambier 1.2.8
Casterton Sandford got the ball out of the middle quickly in the third quarter, with the ball ending in the hands of Matthew Smith who kicked the Cats’ 11th goal; Jarvis Parsons soon after kicked the Cats’ 12th before East Gambier locked up their defence, dropping several players back.
The Cats players formed a wall across the centre and sent the ball back regularly.
Elwood Geary was taking some telling marks across the ground and his fellow Under 16 teammate, Kaeden Talay, after a B.O.G. performance in the victorious Under 16 team, was getting plenty of the ball.
Both these young men travel a considerable distance for their footy and we thank them both for their efforts.
Thomas Searle had been prolific in his attack on the ball, defensively, but when the opportunity arose for him to kick a goal via a pass out of a pack by Millard, he did so with great gusto.
Three-quarter-time: Casterton Sandford 13.13.91, East Gambier 2.3.15
The last quarter was all Casterton Sandford as Kurzman, Hill and Smith kicked goals and the Cats kept East scoreless.
Two club stalwarts in Hayden Smith and Peter Hutchins, who were both watching from the sidelines with season-ending injuries, looked to be enjoying their teammates’ efforts.
Jake Smith, Jackson Fitzgerald and Kaden Humphries continued to go hard at the ball, making sure the Cats’ Ressies would get their first 100-point-plus win in many seasons.
Final scores: Casterton-Sandford 17.15.117, East Gambier 2.3.15
The Cats Reserves are now a game outside the finals with three games to go.
One of those is against North, who is the team just above us and we play East again in the last game.
Is it too much to have a dream where our Ressies, the bad news Cats, come from out of nowhere to win the grand final?
I know Coach Joe will give it a go and the belief must be there in the playing group after the weekend’s game, so enjoy the break this weekend, Cats fans, and then come back to Island Park on the 23rd of July for the run home to finals.
WBFL - Seniors
THE Kennel, McDonald Park, is a hard place to go when you need a win to keep your finals chances alive.
East Gambier have given us some close calls this season and this game would be no different as the Cats went into the game missing some key players, every Cat was going to have to give 100 per cent.
The game didn't start well for the Cats as East got on the scoreboard with a goal inside the first minute, thanks to key forward and co-coach, Matthew Scanlon.
East continued to push forward from the next centre bounce but the Cats’ back six tightened, led by Nick Schembri and Dylan Ayton and sent several attacks back from where they came.
Kyle Carlin threw himself into every contest and Diarmid Cleary showed poise and control in gaining possession and clearing the Sherrin in the Cats’ advantage.
The Cats were able to get their first goal when Billy Galpin spotted Adam McKinnon in a one-on-one contest; McKinnon won control and kicked truly.
It was a real see-sawing battle as the ball went from one end to the other and back again; Ethan Currie, Jack Thompson and Justin Carlin were prominent in this exchange, along with Cleary and Galpin, but the Cats couldn't hold back the Dogs forever - Lock for East kicking their second goal.
Hamish McCrae was giving his mid-fielders first use of the ball from the ruck and the Cats’ forwards, Rick Killey and Josh Cottier, kept presenting with little luck.
Mason Hunter began a good Cats run with a strong clearance from deep in defence that ran all the way through several Cats to McKinnon, who kicked his and the Cats’ second goal.
East answered with their third goal a couple of minutes later, again through Scanlon; Rick Killey was on the bench for that goal and must have been incensed that the East Coach would have the audacity to kick two goals in a quarter on brother Matt, so as soon as Rick got on the ground he ran forward, demanding the ball and kicked the Cats’ third goal.
Rick almost had a second goal a minute later, but the East backs swarmed on him and didn't allow him to get his kick away.
East finished with a late goal to Lock and took a seven-point lead into the quarter-time break.
Quarter-time: Casterton Sandford 3.1.19, East Gambier 4.2.26
The Cats certainly came out to play in the second quarter, in particular Jack Thompson and Alistair McCrae who combined to get McCrae on the board twice in the first five minutes, wresting back the lead from East in doing so.
Cleary, Galpin and McKinnon continued to get the ball moving while Dillan Carlin, Gabe Parsons and Damian Wombwell hit the packs hard to force turnovers, Parsons also providing a couple of timely shepherds that could be felt from the other side of the ground.
Al McCrae was involved in the Cats’ next goal, taking the ruck 20 metres out and tapping to Billy Galpin who spun around his opponents and snapped the goal.
Despite the best efforts of the back six, led by President Ayton and Matt Killey, East was able to kick a late goal to reduce the Cats’ lead at half time to eight points.
Half-time: Casterton Sandford 6.5.41, East Gambier 5.3.33
Casterton-Sandford seniors have had some bad luck recently in the third quarters and it looked as though that run was going to continue, as East came out and kicked the first goal of the quarter.
East then continued to pepper their forward line, with several marks taken, but luckily the Cats have a not-so-secret weapon on the sidelines in John Humphries, each time an East player lined up for goal, John would - as he has done for as long as I have been alive - encourage them to miss the goal.
East kicked 10 behinds in a row and John continued to boom with his ‘Ha Ha’ after each missed shot.
The Cats finally broke through with a goal to Adam McKinnon after accepting a pass from Bill Galpin and Galpin set up the next Cats’ goal a minute or so later, this time delivering the Sherrin by hand to Diarmid Cleary who ran on to goal and get the Cats back in front.
East responded, again through Scanlon, with a goal a couple of minutes later and then the Cats, again through Al McCrae after some good work by Ayton, kicked their ninth major, to be up by a goal.
East evened things up with a goal in the last seconds of the quarter, setting up a hum-dinger of a last quarter.
Three-quarter-time: Casterton Sandford 9.7.61, East Gambier 8.13.61
East Gambier began the quarter strong, kicking a behind and two goals in the first four minutes, but the Cats looked the team with more petrol in the tank and everyone knows how valuable that is at the moment.
Kyle Carlin was taken high in defence and rewarded the free kick; he sent it long forward where Damian Wombwell gained possession and passed to Rick Killey, whose kick almost snapped the goal post off.
That behind was the last of the game.
The Cats, with a vocal Cats crowd behind them, kicked the next four goals - first one from a McKinnon handball to Thompson who kicked to the lead of Galpin, who marked and goaled.
The next, again to Galpin, after he was man handled in the contest and rewarded a free in the scoreboard pocket.
Billy Galpin continued to push forward and along with Cleary, McKinnon, Currie and Hamish McCrae, never letting up on the pressure acts required for victory, Galpin, received a handball from Dillan Carlin and kicked long to the leading Al McCrae, who took a strong contested mark and kicked the Cats’ 12th goal.
The last Cats goal saw the Cats’ two best players combine for about the 40th time for the day, Diarmid Cleary tackled an East player and then played on quickly to Galpin, who marked and kicked the goal from 40 metres out.
There were some tense moments in the last minutes of the game, but the Cats held out the Dogs to bring the win back to Island Park by 11 points.
Final scores: Casterton-Sandford 13.8.86 defeated East Gambier 10.15.75
The Casterton-Sandford Senior side in recent weeks has dropped out of the final four due to, in part, poor performance in the third quarter.
How Coach Forbes and his men get over this form of the Yips - for lack of a better term - I don't know but let’s hope they work it out in the next fortnight as we have this weekend off.
The Cats next game is at Island Park against South Gambier and we need to start building wins and momentum in the lead up to finals, so get along and support your team.
WBFL - Under 14s
OVER at McDonald Park our Under 14 footy team was up against it from the get-go, facing second-placed East Gambier.
East scored two goals in the first three minutes and it took the Cats seven minutes to get a forward-50 attacking entry.
Jaggar Geary managed a point with a dribble kick along the ground; this was our only score for the quarter.
Great tackles from Brody Pratt on East’s best player in the backline and also Jett Lykke tackled hard, both boys turning defence into attack with held-ball calls.
East scored another goal right on the siren and they were 26 points up at quarter-time.
The second quarter started well with us getting the first centre clearance, but our full forward was caught behind his opponent and East’s full back marked strongly.
The rest of the term was dominated by our opponents and they scored three goals, four points, whereas the Cats only managed a point right on the siren where Kelem Blenkiron found himself in the forward line and sold the candy a couple of times, but didn’t quite finish with the kick this time.
The coaching panel decided to really throw the magnets around and massive changes were made at half-time.
This proved to be a winner and this was by far our most productive quarter for the match.
Jedd Rhook and Archie Lane were sent to the backline and instructed to drive the ball out of that defensive line, Reghan Parsons scooped up the footy and got perfectly clean hands out to Jedd, who did as asked and create the play, pumping a long, precise kick directed to Sam Patton, who marked at centre half forward and turned to face goals, with open space in front he run on to score the cats first goal of the day.
Dartmoor duo, Brody Pratt and Connor Stephens, then did the hard yards in a pack in the centre, getting the ball forward again for the Cats.
Kirby Vise worked her butt off to down an Eastie in a great tackle and was rewarded with a free kick for her efforts.
Just when the Cats seemed to have a run on there was a hold up in play to get an injured player off the ground.
The footy spent a lot of time in our forward line with our defensive end really doing well.
Deep in our forward line, Jaggar Geary at one stage looked like the incredible hulk with literally two opponents hanging off him and another two dancing around him and he just kept pushing forward with the ball in hand!
He eventually managed to get the footy out into space and obviously we had cats players spare because they were all hanging off the hulk and Nate Longhurst pounced on the opportunity, gathered and smashed through our second goal.
Our kids managed to actually win this term; we scored two goals, two points and East only one goal, one point.
Three quarter Time scores: East-8.8.56, Cats-2.2.14
Archie Lane and Billy Rhook were doing some awesome work in the backline in the last quarter, manning up and not letting opponents get any easy balls.
Krystal Collier was putting her body on the line as usual in defence.
Sam Patton marked strongly all day and played a pearler.
Lachie Auld, Ayden Nolte and Rupert Dorahy all tired their best in forward pockets when the ball ventured up that way.
Blake Kurzman battled hard in the backline all morning.
George Edgar for his second game tried hard to follow coaches’ instructions and get his job done.
Riley Hutchins was running on the wing all game trying to create play.
Final Scores: East 10.12.72, Cats 2.3.15
