In round two of the Murray Football Netball League, the Finley Cats firsts went down to the Numurkah Blues by six goals.
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The Blues pulled ahead from the start, booting three goals to Finley’s one in the first term.
With a few new additions to the outfit, plus a few younger players in the mix, the Cats’ firsts are still finding their rhythm.
Numurkah was running the game on their terms, and the Cats weren’t responding where needed.
But Finley appeared on top around the clearances, however kept breaking down across half forward.
Good use of the ball and clever transition from defence gave the lead away to Numurkah.
Finley responded late in the first quarter with playing coach Angus Robertson marking strongly on a lead and registering the Cats’ first goal after three missed attempts earlier.
Inaccuracy in kicking for goal was to be the Cats defining factor.
“We won a lot of contests, a lot of forward inside 50 entries,” coach Angus Robertson said.
“But we struggled to convert, we weren’t reactive enough when Numurkah got the ball, we weren’t manning up enough.”
The second term was marred with lost opportunities.
Five points registered all within range while Numurkah capitalised with two more goals to see the half-time margin up 20 points, entering the long break with 1.8 (14) to Numurkah’s 5.4 (34).
Lachy Hawkins and brother Spencer rucked tirelessly providing the on ball brigade opportunities.
Both sides battled stubbornly in the third term, finding the big sticks just once each, and fumbling a few forward entries to primarily tally points.
They ended the term on 2.12 (24) to 6.9 (45).
Defenders Charlie and James Ford worked hard to push the Blues back all day, while young guns Archie Mason, Nick Lunn and Robbie Hamman showed “a lot of growth” to be proud of, according to Roberston.
Isaac Corvo and Willie Robertson again teamed well and created attacking moves off the last line of defence.
Archie Mason battled hard all game on his wing and continues to develop in this position.
Paul Massingham tried hard to providing options up in the forward line.
Benji Neal showed us again what he is capable of and could have finished with a bag of goals with refined accuracy.
Shaun Kable’s injury early in the contest left the Cats bench short of options in the forward line.
"Our back line is quite strong and holds up under a lot of pressure - in the end it’s maintaining it across four quarters,“ Robertson said.
Consistency did prove to be a challenge in the final stanza, and the Blues got away from them to kick another four majors.
Finley battled hard, creating forward pathways to kick two more, but they couldn’t make up the gap before the final siren.
Captain Reilly Rennick tried his best to lift the home side and when Robbie Hamman kicked an opportunistic goal mid way through the last quarter the margin was again reduced to 20 points.
In the end, it was the Blues’ game.
Final score: Finley 4.12 (36) lt Numurkah 10.13 (73).
While they won’t benefit from the points, Robertson said his side is not lacking the makings of a great team.
"Our positives were just intensity, and our pressure was really good when we had the ball.
"It was our ability to get the ball forward very quick, which is something we’ve worked on.“
He put the struggle down to intensity.
“I think we were very aggressive in our attack which showed in our forward entries and scoring shots in the first half.”
Unfortunately that translated to points rather than goals, but the Cats managed to maintain a fairly low-scoring game at both ends of the field.
“We were mainly too aggressive and need to find the right times to go slow and fast.”
The Cats will visit Deniliquin for the round three Good Friday match of the MFNL.
“Good Friday is always so much fun - it’s a big crowd.
“We understand Deni is a good outfit and respect the way they go about it.”
Deniliquin’s firsts have come out on top in rounds one and two against Barooga and Echuca United.
The Cats will meet the Rams at the Hardinge St Oval, Deniliquin on Friday.
Reserves
In the seconds, the Cats had luck on their side to come away with a 25 point lead.
The first quarter was a tight battle, with both sides coming away scoreless.
In the second term, Finley tore ahead with five majors and a spattering of points, but the Blues weren’t far behind.
The Numurkah outfit was keen to claw back the gap - Finley 9.17 (71) def Numurkah 7.4 (46).
They came back from the main break with a Finley on 5.9 (39) and Numurkah with 4.2 (26).
Another scrappy term gave the Cats a three-goal lead, but it was mostly made of points for Finley 7.14 (56) to Numurkah 6.2 (38).
The Cats added two more majors to their tally and beat back advances from the Blues to score just 1.2 (8) before the final siren.
Final score: Finley 9.17 (71) def Numurkah 7.4 (46).
The thirds and fourths also recorded wins on the day.