Cats 8.14.62 def Bulldogs 3.4.22
First final for most of the lads and against a side that had had the upper hand on the last two meetings.
However, this time the Cats had a near full strength line-up with only two missing with injury.
From the outset the Cats were fierce. Some inaccuracy the only downside in a promising opening term that the Cats had the advantage for most.
Luke Nicholson held the centre of the ground in his grasp and continually fed the ball forward to the dangerous Judd Kuschert who was isolated forward and created plenty of problems for the Thurgoona defence.
When Thurgoona did go forward Archer Colvin and Tom Ford defended well with Archer controlling one side of the ground while Tom controlled the air.
The second term had the Cats exert their physicality with their tackling on show, the backline formed a strong partnership with Fred Jackson reading the play well and intercepting across halfback to continually foil the Thurgoona advances.
When they managed to avoid Fred, Lenny Hill was a mountain of strength with his imposing presence. Charlie Beattie pushed forward from the last line to take a mark inside the forward fifty and slot one to take the lead to twenty-four points at half time. Thurgoona were held scoreless.
The third had Thurgoona mount a mini comeback however a crafty goal by Aiden Berriman and one on the three-quarter siren by Charlie James stemmed the flow.
The last was one-way traffic as the Cats took total control. The only disappointing aspect was the poor goal kicking which prevented a massive win.
Charlie James was a dominate force throughout with three goals while the midfield led by Luke Nicholson and Rory Beattie controlled the centre of the ground.
Jaydon Baldwin shut-down Thurgoona’s dominate midfielder for the entirety of the game to be one of the best, the entire backline was superb. The tackling pressure never relented for the entire game from the entire group, a forty point win a good reward for effort.
Next Saturday has the Cats confront Kiewa for a chance at a grand final.
Under 14s
Cats 9.5.59 def Mitta 4.3.27
To round out the weekend of finals the young Cats had their chance at an elimination final against the might of Mitta.
With two quick goals inside the first five minutes the Cats looked on song however the last ten minutes of the quarter belonged to Mitta who managed two of their own.
The second had the Cats take control with Flynn Verhulst providing run through the middle and Bill Lindon doing the heavy lifting with his strong ruck work clearing a path for the smaller Cats runners in Harry Chandler and Logan Poole.
Ryan Barkley produced a strong game at half-back while Will Baker’s surprise role at fullback negating the dangerous Mitta forwards for his best of the year. The half time score, Cats by twenty-seven.
The third was an even affair with the Cats limiting the damage to take a handy three-quarter time lead of eighteen points. An early goal in the last had the lead out to twenty-four and the game all but over.
The forwards of Jai Nicholson, Jack Torny, Boof Maloney and Dusty Fisher too big of a handful for the Mitta defence.
A twenty-two-point win books another week of finals, just reward for a strong year.
