Cougars Round 2, Kalamunda V’s Swan Athletic at Harmony Fields
The last time these two sides met was a preliminary final in September 2024. Unfortunately, the Cougars lost this match by 26 points and Swan Ath. Went on to win the Grand Final against Cockburn Lakes.
In the lead up to that game Coach Bolton would have stressed to his charges pre-game, they needed to keep the ball in open space and avoid the height advantage the Swans had. The same advice would have been given to the Cougars for this encounter, however once again they struggled to achieve that aim and with poor disposal causing turnovers lost the initiative and trailed by 12 points at quarter time.
Despite excellent work from Daniel Griffin in the ruck the Cougars could not capitalise on this advantage and broke down badly with poor delivery into the forward line. This allowed the Swans backs to run the ball out of defence and set up their own attacks with accurate football to kick 5 goals straight to the Cougars 2.3 for the term.
In the third quarter the Cougars rallied with Daniel Griffin and Ashton McGowan scoring quick goals, however the Swans continued to apply a strong physical presence around the ground, restricting any further scoring opportunities for the Cougars.
The last quarter started with the Swans leading by 34 points and probably expecting to run-over the Cougars in this term however, the Cougars rallied and began to concentrate and finished up outscoring the Swans by 5 points!
The Cougars were valiant throughout this match and never stopped trying but, as I have written in the past, ‘size does matter’ and that fact was borne out in this round.
Final scores: Swan Athletic; 13.7 – 85, Kalamunda; 8.8 – 56
Best players: Tristan Raynor, Jayden Wood, Ashton McGowen, Adam Brescacin
Observers award: Daniel Griffin
Goals: Ashton McGowan 2, 1 each to Steve Caccetta, Dustin Brown, Jack Jago, Utah John-Furnace Daniel Griffin & Cormac White.
See the Alex Haight Report: Later in This Weeks Topic (Menu section) More Club Highlights: Round 1 North Fremantle V’s Kalamunda
Special Mention: a tribute by Alex Haight (Life Member of the Cougars)
Congratulations to Ryan Newbold who played his 150 game against the Ellenbrook Eels at Harmony Fields in Maddington in this round.
He is commonly known as “Newy”, a raging bull power forward who can take a strong contested mark and on numerous occasions and has kicked a big bag of goals. His best effort of 8 goals came last year in round 6 against Bayswater. Newy now has well and truly over 100 goals in his career to date! He has the rare feat of representing the club in every grade over the years which shows not only his talent but his humility and passion for playing for the jumper. He is friendly and relaxed character, always up for spinning a yarn over a few drinks and genuinely is just a great person to have around the football club. Well-done Newy!
Thank you to Don Benson for the photography
Next B grade game: Cockburn Lakes V’s Kalamunda 01:20 PM, Sat, 25 April, 2026 @ Anning Park.
This post is dedicated to, webextra proud sponsors of the Kalamunda ‘Cougars’ Football Club.
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