Round 3, Kalamunda V’s Gosnells at Ray Owen Oval
The interest in this round was reflected in the performance of the Gosnells ‘Hawks’ who had been promoted to C1 level this season. They had lost their first game against Mosman Park by 43 points then bounced back to beat Ballajura by 26 points in round 2.
The Cougars who had won their last two matches against Kwinana and Hamersley Carine, would have been warned by their coach Chris Bolton not to take this game lightly as the Hawks could now be finding their feet in the C1 grade.
In the first quarter the Cougars started a blitz that took the Hawks by surprise keeping the ball in their backline for the best part of the quarter, with a ‘press’ continually turning any defensive move they made into attack.
With the ferocity of the Cougar attack the Hawks forward line became ‘crowded’, as the Cougars, eager to score before ‘lowering their eyes’ resulted in a score of 4.8 to the Hawks 1.1
The second term was a repeat of the first with the Cougars piling on the pressure to kick another 4.5 as the Hawks could only manage 1.2 during the quarter!
In the third quarter the Hawks must have had some ‘encouragement’ from their coach as they became determined to avoid an embarrassing defeat by increasing their efforts to spoil the Cougars run.
To this extent they were moderately successful by forcing the Cougars to lose their game plan and play a ‘kick-Mark’ game, which suited some of the Hawks big men to slow the game to their advantage. Nevertheless, the Cougars managed to avoid these passages of ‘paddock footy’ and kick 2.4 to the Hawks 1.1
In the final term after some good advice from Coach Bolton the Cougars ran away and kicked another 4 goals to the Hawks single goal.
This win puts the Cougars in second spot on the PFL C1 ladder with their next game against Bassendean who are struggling. Coach Bolton will be warning his chargers against complacency, as they will face a real test in round 5 against Melville who are current ladder leaders.
Final scores: Kalamunda; 15.18 – 108, Gosnells 3.3 – 21
Best players: Blake Thomas. Reg Jones, Max Fasolo, Kade McKeown, Mitch Massam.
Coaches award: Judd Cheshire
Observers award: Team effort.
Goals: Lachlan Ballantine 3, Ben Hollman 2, 1 each to Jack Jago, Jackson Bowen, Jayden Wood, Mitch Massam, Max Fasolo, Christiano Paduano, Dustin Brown, Judd Cheshire, Ethan Faulds, Trent Pottinger.
Special Mention: Backs; Ollie Adriano, Josh Touchell
Other final round games:
C1 Reserves: Kalamunda 20.15 – 135, Gosnells 1.2 – 8
C5 League: Kalamunda 6.7 – 43, Whitford 11.6 – 72
C5 Reserves: Kalamunda 10.8 – 68, Whitford 6.6 – 42
Colts: Kalamunda 9.10 – 64, Gosnells 4.8 – 32
Ladies: Kalamunda 1.2 – 8, Ocean Ridge 7.6 – 48
Next Weeks Game: Kalamunda V’s Bassendean at Ray Owen Oval, Saturday 3 May @ 3.05 PM
This week’s Topic: Another milestone in the Alex Haight Report
This post is dedicated to, Cellarbrations Lesmurdie, proud sponsors of the Kalamunda ‘Cougars’ Football Club.
