Round 17, Thornlie V’s Kalamunda at Thornlie Oval.
In Round 8 the Cougars won the game against the Lions by 28 points in a tough physical encounter at Ray Owen Oval.
The Lions who are currently sitting in 6th position on the PFL ladder have in previous meetings demonstrated a steely determination to make things miserable for the Cougars by forcing them to play the game on their terms.
The Cougars will need to muster their commitment and concentration from the start, to avoid this trap in their run to the finals.
From the moment this game started it was apparent the Cougars did not have their minds on the job, by defeating the Lions in this round.
The Lions showed enough skill and determination to win this game by putting lie to the 6th position they currently hold on the PFL ladder.
They completely outclassing the Cougars in every aspect of Australian football in this quarter!
They continually ran in numbers to put pressure on the Cougars all over the ground, resulting in a lead of 30 points at quarter time. The Cougars played behind their opponents, fumbled the ball, dropped marks, kicked to the opposition resulting in turnovers and placed their backline under enormous pressure during this term.
Fortunately, through the efforts of Lachlan Ballantine, Reg Jones and Utah John-Furnace they managed to scramble the ball to Jackson Bowen and Ashton McGowan to kick their two goals for the quarter.
Josh Touchell, Mitch Massam and Mitch Della-Franca worked hard to stem the Lions attack, however their efforts were hampered by the stream of Lions players carrying the ball unopposed into their defensive area!
Coach Bolton would have been very concerned at the Cougars performance at quarter time as the Cougars were falling into the trap of playing the Lions game, with their advantage of height and physicality now controlling field play.
The Cougars began the second quarter with some very poor disposal by hand and foot causing turnovers which allowed the lions to add another 4 goals for the quarter. The cougars managed two goals through Jackson Bowen and Ashley McGowan but spoilt their chances in attack by trying to score too far from goal with free kicks resulting in 3 points. Other scoring efforts fell short to be cleared by the Lions backs.
At half time the Lions led by 30 points and the Cougars lacked the answers to counter them.
In the third term the Lions dispelled any hope of a Cougars revival with a 3 goal burst. The Cougars only goal came from a free kick by Ben Holman in the goal square.
This quarter also highlighted the accuracy of the Lions kicking and handpassing compared to the Cougars inaccuracy.
The final term highlighted the Cougars problem when trying to score from a distance. They kicked 5 points without scoring a goal while the Lions countered these efforts by a goal to win by 37 points!
The Cougars will need to do some ‘soul searching’ during the coming week as the finals are now one round away and their performance in this round was not up to the standard required for success!
Final scores: Thornlie: 13.6 – 84, Kalamunda: 5.11 – 47
Best Players: Jack Jago, Ashton McGowan, Josh Touchell, Jackson Bowen, Ben Holman.
Goals: Jackson Bowen 2, Ashton McGowan 2, Ben Holman
Other final round games:
C1 Reserves: Thornlie: 4.6 – 30, Kalamunda: 4.11 – 35
C5 League: Kalamunda: 2.3 – 15, SNESA: 17.10 – 112
C5 Reserves: Kalamunda: 2.4 – 16, SNESA: 8.8 – 44
Colts: Kalamunda: 5.14 – 44, Thornlie: 0.3 – 3
Ladies: Kalamunda V’s Coolbellup, Elimination final Saturday 16 August, 2025. Details to come.
This Weeks Topic: 2 more Milestones this week …
Next week’s C1 game: Round 18, Jandakot V’s Kalamunda 02:10 PM, Sat, 16 August, 2025 at Atwell Reserve.
This post is dedicated to, Westbuild, proud sponsors of the Kalamunda ‘Cougars’ Football Club.
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