Cougars Grand Finals, 2025 @ Bassendean Oval
The C1 Grand final was played between the Kalamunda Cougars and the Melville Rams at Bassendean oval following the C1 Reserves side and Colt’s game earlier in the day.
The Reserves side won a tough game against the Jandakot Jets by 4 points and the Colts defeated Gosnells by 10 points in a wind affected game.
Unfortunately, the club could not celebrate a ‘treble’ as the C1 league side were beaten by Melville 25 points in a rain affected affair.
Melville earnt their position in the Grand Final after beating Kwinana in a hard- fought battle at Melville Reserve in the Preliminary final by 6 points.
They adapted well to the wet weather conditions when the rain commenced at the end of the first quarter, where they led the Cougars by 9 points.
Up to that point Coach Bolton would have been reasonably happy with the situation as the Rams had kicked only 2.4 with a strong breeze after some strong defence by the Cougar backs and close checking by the midfield.
In the second term the rain continued, and the Cougars began to play the style of game the Rams wanted with heavy pressure and continuous stoppages in the slippery conditions.
The Cougars efforts to gain any advantage with the breeze were thwarted until the last 5 minutes of the quarter when Tyler Mouritz and Ashton McGowan scored, to leave the Cougars trailing by 4 points at half time.
The conditions in the third term did nothing to help the Cougars as they fumbled their way through the quarter dropping chest marks and running second to the ball. This allowed the Rams to take advantage of the many free kicks the Cougars gave away, to kick 2.6 while the Cougars could only manage a goal from Jaya Terima who had moved into the forward line.
The last quarter started with the Cougars trailing the Rams by 16 points and Coach Bolton urging his players to apply some ‘grit and determination’. However, the damage had been done, and the Rams went on to kick another 2 goals to the Cougars 3 single points to win comfortably by 25 points and win the Grand Final!
This was a disappointing result however the Cougars can take some comfort from their promotion into the PFL ‘B’ grade competition next season.
Final scores: Melville 7.13 – 55, Kalamunda 4.6 – 30
Best players: Max Fasolo, Bret van Groningen, Ashton McGowan, Jaya Terima.
Coaches award: Mitchell Dela-Franca.
Final results for season:
C1 Reserves: Grand final – Kalamunda: 8.7 – 55, Jandakot: 7.9 – 51
C5 Season: completed – finished in 14th position.
C5 Reserves: Preliminary final – SNESA 6.7 – 43, Kalamunda 4.1 – 25
Ladies: Season completed – finished in 5th position.
Colts: Grand final – Kalamunda: 6.8 – 44, Gosnells 5.4 – 34
This post is dedicated to the Yaksich Health Centre, proud sponsors of the Kalamunda ‘Cougars’ Football Club
Yaksich Health Centre is a family owned and operated business that has been helping the people of Perth deal with day to day problems affecting the muscles, joints and nerves for over 60 years