The Doncaster Cats headed into their first final in a confident
manner as they took on Kew Rovers for a spot in the Grand Final. We
made a positive start kicking the first goal of the game within the
first minute. From then on, the rest of the quarter was tight with
Kew Rovers kicking two goals and the Cats kicking two more to take a
narrow lead into the first break.
Kew seemed to get on top of the Cats in the second as they kicked
three goals to one and moved the ball into their forward line with
conviction. Trailing by two goals at half time the Cats needed to be
harder at the football and put more pressure in the midfield.
In the "premiership" quarter the Cats started with a bang as they
won the ball out of the centre and passed the ball around by hand and
foot with accuracy and speed. Such was their attack on the ball the
Cats kicked seven goals for the quarter and dominated everywhere on
the field. The forward line was functioning more efficiently and the
midfield were on top of their opponents – we saw some great team work
and fluency in our game.
In the last quarter the Cats continued their domination and added
another four goals against a tired and shell shocked Kew outfit. The
Cats got stronger and stronger as the game went on and through some
tough and skilful pieces of play around the ground the Cats deserved
to win by 42 points and book their place in the Grand Final in a
fortnight’s time.
The midfield displayed some great running and tackling throughout
the game - especially in the second half. Matthew Torcasio, Matthew
Silipo, Joshua Davis and Matthew Balon were outstanding yet again.
Liam Hamilton played a fantastic game on the wing as he crashed
through packs and drove the ball into the forward line on numerous
occasions. Michael Allen also played a great game on the other wing.
David Fornito, Jason Chu, Shane Mills and Jesse Fahkri were solid in
defence as they took strong marks and held their opponents all day.
In the forward line, Piers Davis-Wahlstrom, Mark Grasso, Jason
Alessio, Cody Elford, Turlough Sullivan, Matthew Di Maria and Kon
Athanasiadis were electric as they kicked many goals between them.
It was a great effort by the whole team and there were many
dominating passages of play from the Doncaster Cats. Well done boys,
keep the spirit up, enjoy the week off but let’s train hard for the
final game of the year!
