The senior Cats celebrating after their first win of the season.
It is safe to say that Rutherglen and Wahgunyah enjoy the chance to go toe to toe, no matter what the ladder position.
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These two sides will go to nearly any length to get the upper hand, and Saturday’s game was no exception.
Both towns found a few surprises with late player entries, making for an enjoyable game to watch for the large crowd.
The game may have effectively been over at half time however this didn’t prevent the Lions from giving maximum effort to make for a tighter second half. The only downside was the conversion rate of both sides was not at their best.
For the Cats, there quite a few upsides with the best being the first senior game for Judd Kuschert who proved a handful in attack with five goals to have a great start to his senior career.
The return of Ben Plemming from a knee injury was a good feel story and to kick four goals made for an even better day.
Ben is still a defender resting forward. Other highlights were the form of Ryan Milthorpe, sure hands of Mitch Huggins and the hard running Sam Edmondson showed that the youngsters are finding their feet at senior level. In Jack Andison’ absence Sam will be making a dent in his B&F aspirations.
Cats 18.21 def Lions 6.11
Awards: Complete Body Craft mug – Sam Edmondson, Rutherglen Butcher Yeti – Ryan Milthorpe, Rutherglen Pizza – Mitch Huggins.
Archer Colvin and Rory Beattie played in the Under 16 TDFL team at the Interleague games over the weekend.
Reserves
With a few back from seniors and the bye for the 17s, the reserves fielded a more settled team with a better balance across the board and the final result showed with a close fought victory.
Matty Andison was dropped for the week in a statement that the Cats will not accept passengers. With a hypnotist attending the rooms on Saturday night all Cats supporters are hopeful of a vast improvement from Matt.
From the game the defensive efforts of Olli Noble and sixteen-year-old Lenny Hill were excellent in keeping the Lions at bay.
After a strong third quarter push, the rise of Lenny Hill this year has been a shining light in perseverance at both player and coaching level, Lenny is shaping as an important player the Cats for many years to come.
Second gamer Kai Wilson also had a strong showing and is settling in well with his ability to play at both ends.
The return of Tommy Renshaw for his second game for the year was important when the pressure came on his ability to settle the inexperienced side was immense.
The highlight though was Ron Fuge’s cameo with a five-goal haul. On one occasion Ron threw his foot at the ball in a marking contest for the ball to sail through for a major, effectively ending the contest early in the last- Ron claims on purpose but for all at the game, it was clearly an accident.
Cats 9.9 def Lions 6.5
Awards: Winslow Civil mug – Matt Elton, Silvey Key Café Yeti – Ron Fuge, Rutherglen Pizza – Lenny Hill.
Junior Cats Bill Linden, Jack Torney, Logan Pool and Flynn Verhulst all played for the under 14 TDFL for the Interleague matches.
Under 12s
After kicking the first goal of the match, the Cats struggled to hit the scoreboard as Wahgunyah controlled the rest of the half with a dominate midfield.
A few positional changes after half time allowed the Cats to mix it in the midfield to break even in the second half and allowed more forward forays.
As hard as the Cats worked after the half time break, they just couldn’t peg back the early lead.
Cody Johnson was again strong in the defensive unit with his strong running and long kicking and is showing that he will be a real talent as he moves through the grades.
C Grade had their first win of the season against the Lions on Saturday.
A Grade
Ruth 34, Wah 46
No report.
B Grade
Ruth 44, Wah 32
No report.
C Grade
Absolutely awesome effort from the C grade girls and a fantastic reward for coaches Brook and Kayla who were very emotional after the win, rumour has it the two celebrated deep into the night, long after the C grade group had departed for the comfort of bed.
Bree Fisher was everywhere in the mid court, Ellie Lea also had her range to shoot a winning score, while the highlight was the injury free day of Lindsey Harder who has found herself on the trainer’s bench more often than she would like. Most of the C grade group were under the spell of the hypnotist later in the night and the club are expecting big things in the weeks to come.
Cats 38, Lions 24.
The Under 17s had a great win against Wahgunyah.
Under 17s
A win was a massive reward for lots of hard work, the girls played well across the entire court from defence to attack, Ava Kilpatrick was dominate in the centre with her best game of the year while Charlotte Meyer was awesome in defence. Sarah Trevaskis only quarter in wing ding was worth the extra game time in the weeks to come as her improvement was there to see.
Cats 32, Lions 25
Under 15s
A great defensive effort by Alexandra Gniel and determined effort from Maiya at the opposite end wasn’t enough for the Cats to get the win. Faith and Matilda worked well in feeding the ball to the shooters as Grace Milthorpe regained her mojo and was strong with her work in the circle combining with her younger assistants. Netball aside, this group of girls are super important to the running of the club on game days with their massive work around the canteen and doing any job that is required, to Grace and crew, a big thankyou from the Cats supporters.
Cats girls ended on the wrong end of the scoreboard however the efforts of Holly, Acacia, Issy and Tayla never wavered as they battled with the Lions shooters. The midcourt was well covered by Milly Morris and Ivy as they worked hard up and down the court while in the shooters circle Flick and Jasmine worked well together. Tayla Meyer also played well to become the most talented Meyer in the club. Big shout out to Flick and Ivy who stepped up from the 12s to make an impact at the higher level with Flick hitting a long-range bomb to have the crowd erupt.
The girls won and were last seen celebrating hard at the canteen, coach Dennis has taken full credit as his sidekick in Nicole was away with pressing matters, the entire Rutherglen netball community is fully aware that Nicole pulls the strings however Dennis has been allowed to take a little credit for one week. Making Dennis look good was massive efforts from Sophie Scown and daughter Flick, special effort to Clementine who shot five goals.
Awards; Caffiene N Machine – Flick, Gellatina – Sophie Scown.
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