Finley Football Club selected their strongest seniors side for the trip to Echuca on Saturday to play Echuca United.
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Veteran Tim Robertson was welcomed into the side, along with the returning players James Ford and Lachy Kerr.
The Cats have been slow starters to date, and United took the early advantage.
A 50m penalty to forward Paul Massingham provided the only goal for the first term, while the home side slotted two to hold a four point lead at quarter time.
Lachy Hawkins started to control the centre clearances and this brought the midfield into play.
Benji Neal, Frazer Neate and Angus Robertson all started to get possessions and control the play.
Tim Robertson provided a focal point up forward, and if not for wayward kicking the visitors could have extended the lead further than the 22 point margin at half time.
Sam Hatty, Archie Mason and Nik Burns provided plenty of options around the midfield and dominated their positions.
Brothers Charlie and James Ford were strong in defence creating a lot of drive after winning contested ball.
Forward Harrison Kerr had his best return in Cats colours, marking strongly and slotting three majors.
The Cats didn’t have it all their own way with United getting back within 21 points during the third term.
Two 50m penalties against Finley proved costly as both resulted in goals to the Eagles.
A free kick from 30m out from, followed soon after by Lachy Kerr and Harrison Kerr saw the margin back out to 42 points at the last change.
With 11 players who had goals to their names, the final term saw the Cats control the last quarter.
Neal kicked two stunning goals from either pocket from 50m and then assisted Neate with a running goal from long range.
Isaac Corvo, who had been a focal point at centre half forward, added another, and the Cats ran out 62 point victors.
This sets up an exciting clash against arch rival Deniliquin at home this Saturday.
Final score: Finley 18.15 (123) def Echuca United 9.7 (61).
Reserves - No report.
Final score: Finley 7.3 (45) def Echuca United 6.8 (44).
Travelling down to Echuca to take on the top side was never going to be an easy task for Finley’s thirds side.
Isaac Lunn and Harry Haynes were leading the way, whilst Jordan Sykes was rebounding out of defensive 50 at every opportunity. A slow start saw the scores at 2.3 (15) to 0.0 (0) to Echuca at quarter time.
The second quarter saw the young Cats have many inside fifties ’s and multiple shots at goal.
Our wayward kicking saw a couple go out on the full or drop short and the quarter ended 3.6 (24) to 0.2 (2).
A few changes saw Matt Whelan start forward then get moved into the midfield, before playing the second half down back.
This helped stem the scoring, with the Cats winning the quarter two points to one point in an arm wrestle.
Inaccurate kicking from very achievable opportunities hurt us.
The final quarter went a similar way of the first three quarters with inaccurate kicking.
George Koschel was playing a tight defenders role seeing him named amongst the best, whilst Kohan Joseph was back to his bouncer self finding plenty of footy in his second game for the year.
Another two points were added to Finley’s score whilst Echuca kicked 1.1 for the quarter.
Final score: Finley 0.6 (6) def by Echuca United 4.8 (32).
Best players: Matt Whelan, Isaac Lunn, Harry Haynes, Jordan Sykes, Kohan Joseph and George Koschel.