Whitford V’s Kalamunda at MacDonald Reserve
Once again, the Cougars faced an unknown opponent in the Whitford ‘Warriors’ who were sitting in third spot on the ladder by virtue of their percentage compared to the Cougars.
This game commenced with the Cougars ‘getting the jump’ on the Warriors by booting four quick goals, two from veteran Ben Holman and one each from Leo Lambert and Bret van Groningen. The Warriors then responded with a goal late in the quarter to trail by 19 points.
The Cougars achieved their lead by winning the ball quickly in the center and by playing ‘run and carry’ footy to set up this advantage which coach Trenberth would have been very pleased about at the first break.
In the second quarter Whitford regained their composure and began to man-up to counter the Cougars run. This tactic appeared to break the Cougars concentration through overuse of handball and indiscriminate kicking to packs, resulting in turnovers placing our backline under pressure.
Our forward line also came under some criticism during this period as it allowed the Warrior backs to find many un-manned ‘release’ players to quickly clear the ball from their defensive zone.
At half time, coach Trenberth would have stressed the need for the Cougars to be less one dimensional and deliver the ball to leading players in open space to avoid turnovers and resume the style of play shown in the first quarter.
This was achieved to an extent in the third, as the Cougars scored 3.1 to the Warriors 2.2 with Trent Pottinger, Josh Harris and Kyle Murray taking good marks and scoring. However, once again there was some very untidy passages of play during this term, with many handballs and kicks missing their targets.
The Cougars began the last quarter with a lead of 17 points with Coach Trenberth stressing the need for more pressure!
We thought the Cougars had applied as much ‘pressure’ as they had, with many battered bodies including the loss of Ben Holman with a broken collarbone!
Despite losing some composure in this quarter, which led to several infringements, three very strange umpiring decisions were made resulting in three Whitford goals to the ire of Cougar supporters!
However, the Cougars managed to kick another three goals through Leo Lambert, Josh Harris and bruised and battered Jackson Bowen to win a tough game by 10 points!
Final scores: Whitford 9.8 – 62, Kalamunda 11.6 – 72
Best players: Josh Harris, Jack Jago, Leo lambert, Trent Pottinger, Tiger Morris.
Special Mentions: Oliver Adriano, provided creative leads (not considered) & Kyle Murray who battled very hard against overwhelming odds!
Goals: Leo Lambert 3, Ben Holman 2, Josh Harris 2, Bret van Groningen, Kyle Murray, Trent Pottinger and Jackson Bowen 1 each.
Bruce Glover ‘Plays of the Day’
All in the last quarter, when Lachlan under great pressure eased out an opponent to take a strong mark and stop a forward thrust by Whitford. Then Trent after making several grabs at the ball took his final grab to clinch a great mark while lying on his back! To top this off, Ethan made a good clearance delivering the ball right onto Leo Lamberts chest who with great dash delivered the ball to our forward line.
Other results from round 7
B Reserves – Whitford 14.11 – 95, Kalamunda 7.2 – 44
E1 All Stars – Kenwick 7.11 – 53, Kalamunda 5.4 – 34
Cougar Ladies – Kalamunda 6.6 – 42, Ellenbrook 0.4 – 4
BJC Colts – Kalamunda 3.8 – 26, Fremantle CBC 6.7 – 43
DBC Colts – Kalamunda 11.13 – 79, Bullcreek/Leeming 1.1 – 7
Next game: Round 8 Kalamunda V’s North Fremantle 03:05 PM, Sat, 03 Jun 23 at Ray Owen Reserve.
This post is dedicated to Liquid Labs & Oztrac Equipmennt, proud sponsors of the Kalamunda ‘Cougars’ Football Club.
