Panthers slide to a win during Magpie fundraiser
KILCUNDA-BASS may have claimed the four points, but Dalyston was still in high spirits with plenty of excitement around the grounds on Saturday.
Dalyston hosted its MND fundraiser, featuring the Big Freeze slide with several local identities brave enough to take the plunge.
The Magpies also saw the return of its 1976 premiership teams and celebrated as Dalyston’s D Grade side won its first game in three years.
“It was a huge day. We had great support from Bass and the weather was beautiful,” Dalyston’s Andy Thomas said.
“Plus, we had the veterans playing after the Seniors, so that made it a real carnival atmosphere with everything going on.
“We had pretty much the full complement of old players back for the premiership reunion, which was also a real highlight. Over at the netball courts, we had Buddy Day and D Grade had an exciting win, so everyone was pretty happy.”
On the ground, Kilcunda-Bass got off to a flying start with seven goals on the board in the first quarter.
“There was a bit of a breeze, and we had the advantage of the breeze in the first quarter. The breeze stuck around to about halftime and went away,” Kilcunda-Bass coach Lee Rowe said.
“It was good to get a good start before seeing what the opposition was going to do with the breeze. We managed to hold on in the second quarter.
“Dalyston is a bit of a dangerous game for us. The boys certainly knew my thoughts on it, so we weren’t taking it lightly. We were ready for a fight.”
With a few soldiers out — including Nathan Foote, Travis Tuck and Lleyton Cartmel — Kilcunda-Bass was forced to make a few changes, keeping in mind things it had learnt over previous weeks.
“Through the second quarter, we tried to possess the ball a little more. We found we were making them defend a little more and took the time off the clock a bit when they were using the wind. We did lose the quarter by a goal — we had our chances and it was a pretty open quarter. However, we were happy with where we were at a halftime,” Rowe said.
Dalyston increased its pressure and intensity during the second quarter, keeping it well and truly in the hunt.
“Although Kilcunda-Bass got the jump on us in the first quarter, the rest of the game was goal for goal. We were very competitive afterwards, we just let them off the hook early and paid the price trying to play catch up,” Thomas said.
“The boys were solid in the second quarter. There were some great passages of play, we just couldn’t get those couple of extra goals to get back in it.”
Kilcunda-Bass planned to come out strong and use the wind advantage during the third quarter.
However, the mindset had to be changed when there was no breeze.
“We just had to keep it at arm’s length for them going into the last quarter. We played the game out really well,” Rowe said.
Owen Thomas played a sensational game down back for Kilcunda-Bass.
“This is a new role for him and he just seems so comfortable. He was brilliant,” Rowe said.
“Dale Gawley was fantastic again in the ruck and young Jaxon Brouwers on the wing continues to impress. Hayden Brough stood up in the midfield when we needed him too. Besides that, it was an all-round effort. We were really conscious of making sure we’re all as a collective getting our hands on the footy.”
Dalyston’s best players were Cale Love-Linay, Matthew Gundry, Dino Karamoshos, Jake Barry, Mitchell Hallahan and Hayden Wallis.
Kilcunda-Bass is set to play Nar Nar Goon on Saturday.
With Nar Nar Goon leading the pack early, the Panthers will be taking the opportunity to explore new tactics and try to nullify their attack, putting their best foot forward against the league’s best.
Dalyston will be playing Garfield at home and is ready for an interesting contest.
“It’ll be a challenge because Garfield has a lot of depth. We have to respect them — they’ve picked up a couple of handy players and it will be tough. We’ve got to lift our game a little bit from what we displayed (on Saturday) and get it off to a good start, then hopefully we will be able to match them,” Thomas said.
