2003 Round 4

The weekend saw replays of both the Premiership and Conference grand finals, and this time, both of the results went in our favour. Whilst far from erasing it from our memories, the 10-point victory by the Wildcats certainly went some way to avenging the defeat at the hands of North London last September. The Raiders, on the other hand, improved by a mere 118 points, stretching last years premiership margin from 2 points out to 120 on this occasion!

In yet another "must win" game for both teams given the shortened season this year, the Raiders set the tone for the day when they came out firing against a shell-shocked Regents Park and piled on 6 goals to 1 in the first quarter. From there on it was really just a matter of how far the Raiders as we extended our lead at every break to lead by 10 goals at half time, 16 at three quarter time and 20 when the siren finally sounded to signal some relief for the Lions. The ease of the victory was somewhat surprising, but when SOS has the likes of Shovel, Benny Statton, Big Slug, Benny Collins, Villa, Gus, Jase Hughey, Gerry, Richo, the Evans brothers etc at his disposal, then hopefully a few more sides will be on the receiving end of such hidings. Unfortunately, not for the Raiders though, there are still plenty more players to come back into the side so here’s hoping we continue to improve from that performance!

The Wildcats came out looking like they’d taken a few pointers from the Raiders boys and quickly went about trying to establish some authority on the game against the reigning premiers. With Dicko again providing the onballers with first use, Bakes, Jenko, and Clarky et al were at their damaging best going forward to find options in Nozza and Ako continually presenting themselves. At times the passages of play moved that quickly that the North defence had no chance. The Wildcats found themselves 6 goals in front and it should have been even more, apart from a couple of easy misses.

As we have a tendency to do though, we then went through a couple of flat patches in the second and third quarters and after a very fiery end to the third term, the boys were pumped and were not going to allow North to get any closer than the 13-point margin that it was. Kicking into the wind, Kanga got onto the end of a couple of passes to bag 2 quick goals, and with the help of another couple we again found ourselves with a healthy buffer. Enter that dreaded flat spot again where we allowed North London to kick 6 unanswered goals, before a late sealer from Bakes snuffed out their fight back and we fell over the line by just under two kicks. A couple of outstanding performances from the EU department, with Chambo, Brendan, Mick and Ciaran all sensational throughout the day, should hopefully augur well for the remainder of the season.

With the Wildcats now two games clear, and the Raiders one game clear, the next couple of weeks whilst we have the byes are crucial, so as Rosco and Slates have said let’s make sure we all make the effort to get to as many training sessions as we can. Thanks to everyone who helped out on the weekend, running water or the boundary, as well as timekeeping and waving the flags.

This Saturday the Emus are involved in a game against Clapham at home on Saturday afternoon at 1.00pm. If you’ve nothing else planned, then I’m sure the boys would love some support, as would the coaching staff who as normal will need a hand for the various jobs. Let’s see if we can’t kick start the Emus year with a win, and keep our finals hopes alive.

Go Cats,

Dogga.