Rutherglen Cats FNC Results

Pregame the Cats welcomed young Indigenous man Jaara Moran, Yorta Yorta and Dunghutti man to perform an emotional welcome to country and smoking ceremony to celebrate NAIDOC week with the Cats wearing their Indigenous guernseys.

During the game the Cats had their moments, and these moments are coming more often which is showing signs that the lads are well and truly heading in the right direction, down by nine at halftime proved this to be the case.

With some luck, from injuries which has been the curse for the year even if partly expected from a young list, the Cats could have been heavy in the contest at the end. Ben Pleming, captain, and leader of the young group was fantastic at both ends; Ben has raised his game to another level since returning from injury.

Tommy Allison is as tough as they come, a lot of hardness in a small package and continued his strong start to his senior career.

Sam Edmonson has settled into halfback with plenty of run and manic attack on the ball. Sam also returning from injury has taken to the leadership role and has showed his importance both on and off the ground.

Judd Kuschert played his third game for the year and looked a seasoned performer playing both ends of the ground, Jack Holmes with size and strength was important while Bennet Thomas revelled in the heavy conditions, rumour around town is that Bennet may have turned the sprinklers on during the week.

Big congratulations to Ollie Noble in his first senior game after a number of strong performances at reserves level banged the door down and forced his way into the senior side, unfortunately a finger that refused to point in the direction of its fellow neighbouring fingers will see Ollie miss a few.

Poor form from Matt Andison to pull out of running duties pre-game due to conditions not being to Matts fickle standards.

Reserves

Cats 2.4, Barny 10.9

The Cats fielded a much-improved side from the previous round with the returns of Ryan Maxwell, Breaden Hatton and Ryan Jones welcome, additionally some players back from injury in the seniors resulted in Brent Flannery and Caleb Andison also playing reserves.

The ground unfortunately by the start of the reserves was beginning to show signs of heavy wear and tear which didn’t suit the smaller faster Cats, giving up a lead in the first with the wind proved to be costly in giving Barny a thirty-point lead at half time.

After half time Ryan Jones finally found some of the footy with a couple of strong marks down forward which helped reduce the margin to twenty-three points at three quarter time, against the strong breeze in the last this deficit was always going to be too great, down by eight goals in the end.

Caleb Andison was strong throughout the game and showed that his time in the reserves is just a quick visit, ageing warrior Brent Flannery also showed similar signs of a fleeting visit only with both pushing for a senior call-up.

Ryan Jones will need a lot more time in the reserves, brother Ben is clearly the pick of the two.

James “Jimbo” Plummer, back training after an extended period of working away eating bad food and drinking poor choices of liquids is showing signs that will be noticed by the senior hierarchy.

While a loss was recorded, the effort both on Saturday and the fantastic numbers at training on Thursday showed that this group is headed in the right direction.

Under 17s

Cats 4.13, Barny 1.0

The Cats were fast out of the blocks kicking three goals against the strong breeze effectively killing the game by quarter time.

After the first break the Cats then began to pile on the points, kicking one goal seven to take a thirty-one-point lead into half time.

From there the game turned into a slog as the ground got heavier and the wind blew harder, a solitary point was scored by both sides in the third. Luke Nicholson who was racking up possessions at will left the ground from the result of another poor tackle, Fred Jackson succumbed to a tight hamstring, Caleb Waycott illness and Judd Kuschert senior call-up and that was the bench gone midway through the third.

The last was term was a matter of getting to the end without further injuries, a lot of sore bodies from both sides limped to the finish.

Best for the Cats were Tom Ford and fellow backman Jaydon Baldwin, Archer Colvin continued his strong form and is a much-underrated performer who always gives 100% and rarely loses a contest, Lucas Barnes played his best in the worst conditions while Aidan Berriman showed his class with clean hands and good decision making.

Was good to see Charlie Beattie back from a foot injury caused by a junior club trainer and a car tyre, attached to a moving car.

Under 14s

Cats 2.6, Barney 2.8

The young lads were caught off guard and dropped what was expected to be a win in a disappointing display.

While the Cats had some key players out, they couldn’t get their running game going in heavy and windy conditions.

Kicking with the strong wind in the first the Cats failed to capitalise only scoring one goal to Barnawartha’s no score, while in the second quarter the Cats went scoreless while Barny added one goal five to take a three point lead into half time.

The third quarter unfolded in similar fashion to the first, plenty of opportunities for no reward, a single goal lead at three quarter time was always going to be hard to defend.

The young Cats held strong for the best part of the quarter and looked like they would escape with the win however Barny found a way and took the lead with minutes left, a last thrust forward by the Cats resulted in the only point kicked against the strong wind, unfortunately a goal was needed, Cats down by two points.

Pressure is on for the run home to maintain their spot in the five.

Best were the usual suspects in Flynn Verhulst, Bill Lindon and Lucas Zani while Jayke O’Malley played his best game for the year in showing team mates how to play in the wet.

Tristan Emonson also played a breakout game to show all his improvement from the start of the year, big unit Will Baker found his way into the best through absolute dedication and determination. Will is turning into an important cog in the side, champion kid.

Netball

The A Grade girls’ strongest performance of the year had a victory looking likely early in the game with a strong start resulting in a two-goal lead at quarter time and a four-goal lead at half time however a late fade proved costly to eventually go down by ten.

Ava Cofield was a welcome return and showed that the side is not far off being a handful with a seasoned shooter, the midcourt of Brooke Smith and Grace Watson-Long worked well while Pia Taylor played her best game for the season deep in the defensive arc.

While a win remains allusive the determination and general court play remains positive.

The B Grades slow start proved costly however the performances of two girls in their first year out of juniors in Charli Williams and Olivier Plummer was a positive while in the C grade Kayla Harrison raised her voice for the first time expressing her disappointment and demanding more, unfortunately Kayla didn’t receive more, the C grade going down.

In the younger grades Abbey Hetherington in the 17s shot her 150th goal of the season and is determined to reach 250 before the seasons end, with the holiday season always proving difficult with availability the two 15s girls in Maiya Lea and Alex “Baby” Gneil stepping up and performing well.

The 15s game was a tight tussle and again the girls ended on the wrong side of the score at the end going down by two, Grace Milthorpe shot her 100th for the year, Grace looked very nervous missing some easy shots however once achieving the milestone settled in well.

The 13s continued their winning run with an easy victory, Katie Ford and Jazzy Campbell work worked well in goals, Clodagh Way continued her great season with her high work rate through the mid court.

Acacia Rhodes and Holly O’Donoghue were strong in defence but the game belonged to Taylor Myer playing wingding with fire in the belly playing an outstanding game.