What was a promising finish to the Murray League season came to a bitter end for Finley, with the Cats falling to Rumbalara by 23 points on Saturday.
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In what was a must win game to keep their slim finals chance alive, the Cats were unable to lift, with the 12th placed Rumba side scoring an upset victory on their home deck.
Josh Patmore (five goals), Ash Miller and Nathan and Justin Terlich impressed for Rumba, while Lachy Hawkins and Zeke Carruthers were the best for the Cats.
Final score: Rumbalara 14.17 (101) d Finley 12.6 (78)
The hosts were off to a good start kicking their first into a strong breeze.
A quick reply from Shaun Kable with the aid of the wind and it was evident early the match would be a hard fought contest.
Lachy Hawkins was again dominant around the stoppages.
His work enabled onballers Levi Middleton, Luke Moore and Matt Wilson first use of the ball.
After a close term, 10 points was all that separated the two teams at the first break, with Rumba holding the advantage.
Kicking with the wind Rumba were quick to add multiple goals early in the second term.
A goal to Cats coach Tom Doyle arrested the momentum and when Wilson roved a loose ball off the pack for his first of the day, Finley were back in the contest.
Some good use of the ball starting across half back involving Wilson ended with Luke Bramley slotting a goal and the margin was reduced to 11 points in favour of Rumba at half time.
The Cats' backline were repelling plenty of inside 50 attacks in the third.
Young defenders Zeke Carruthers, Dan O’Bryan, Lachy Kerr and Taylor Kleinschmidt all contributed while Jasper Brain and Tennyson Vance ran hard all day trying to match the opposition's run and carry.
A snap from 30m out to Kerr saw the visitors hit the lead nearing three quarter time.
With captain Cam Robertson, Matt Jackson and Ben Ashley-Cooper unavailable and a reduced bench due to injuries to Robb Jewell, Vance and Middleton, the Cats started to struggle.
A late goal to Rumba saw the margin out to four points at the last break.
A four goal final term to Rumba Finley’s slim finals chance slip through their claws.
Finley's reserves also let their finals hopes drift away following an 11 point loss to third placed Rumbalara.
Both sides struggled with the breeze, with goals hard to come by in the tight clash.
Scores were level at three quarter time, but it was the home side who finished strongly in the last to score the victory.
Better players for the Cats were Tennyson Vance, Tom McCarney, Spencer Hawkins, Sam Price, Dominic Philpot and Marcus Jackson.
Final score: Rumbalara 5.10 (40) d Finley 3.11 (29).
Finley's thirds had a hard day at the office going down to third placed Rumbalara by 27 points on Saturday.
Rumba started off well getting an early lead at the first break.
Finley tried to bounce back all game in a massive arm wrestle before injuries throughout the game slowed their momentum.
With the Cats trailing by 27 points at the final break, the last quarter saw a really good finish to the game from both sides.
The Cats took the opportunity with the wind kicking two quick goals to peg the margin back.
Finley however were unable to match a well-trained Rumbalara when they took back control and put two more majors on the board to finish the day.
Ed Haynes starred up forward for the Cats with four goals, while others to play well were Lachie Osborne, Bailey Coombs, Chris Wright, Shadeau Brain, Eli Sutton and Archie Mason.
Final score: Rumbalara 10.5 (65) d Finley 6.2 (38).
Finley's fourths saluted in an absolute thriller, taking home a one point win over Rumbalara.
Taking on a fellow finals contender in Rumba and on their home deck it set up for a quality game.
The young Cats flew on of the boxes kicking two goals in the first three minutes, the first being long kick in from Liam Rafferty that was probably going through only to be marked by Jack Hay who converted, and the second going to Harrison King.
It was slim picking for the rest of the quarter with Rumba kicking 2.3 to lead at quarter time.
King started the scoring for Finley followed by Rafferty and Kohan Joseph in the second and at half time the cats had a three point lead despite Rumba playing better footy
A goal to Harry Taylor was the only shining light of the third quarter with Rumba skipping out to an 11 point lead at the final break.
The young Cats were asked to stand up and that they did.
Jack Hay was thrown into the midfield immediately having an impact, getting the ball forward resulting in another King goal.
Rumba had many forward thrusts that were repelled by Jordan Sykes, Will Hannon and Joc Brain who were able to keep the opposition goalless in the final term.
Still needing a goal it was a magical banana bending goal by Jack Hay that put the Cats in front.
A late strong mark to Rafferty which resulted in him suffering an injury saw the Cats home by a solitary point.
Best players were Liam Rafferty, Jacob Orro, Jordan Sykes, Harrison King, Harry Taylor and Ethan McLeish.
Final score: Finley 8.3 (51) d Rumbalara 7.8 (50).