WHAT was expected to be the match-of-the-round in Western Border football turned out to be a fizzer, as ladder-leader Casterton Sandford made the trip to Malseed Park to take on third-placed West Gambier.
The previous two games between the sides were both tight contests, but on Saturday the Cats handed the Roos a drubbing.
Without coach Brad Wilson and ruckman Todd Lewis on the field for West, the Cats took full advantage and bared their teeth early.
The final score resulted in a 78-point triumph for the visitors, with Callum Currie leading the way with a five-goal haul, while Josh Stephenson bagged four of his own.
It was these two players who started the ball rolling in the opening minute, as Currie took a strong pack mark on the boundary, before he delivered to Stephenson in front of goal for the first major of the game.
This was followed by another lightning-fast play by the Cats, with Tom Sullivan passing to Angus Cleary, who converted a set shot to give the ladder leaders two in three minutes.
Daniel Richardson had put another goal on the board for the Cats before West could find an answer, with Steve Wenman taking a good mark on the boundary.
He kicked in to Lachlan Jones, who was left alone near the goal square and the young Roo banged it through against the tide.
Currie was next to score, snapping through a major under heavy pressure in the attacking 50.
West was able to reply with its second to narrow the margin, but a goal to the Cats after the siren saw them 17 points clear at the first change.
The second term saw the Cats with their biggest haul, as they added six goals to the Roos’ one.
Wenman spent some time in the ruck in the quarter, taking over from youngster Zane Kuller against the might of Casterton Sandford’s Will Macdonald.
Macdonald has been in blinding form of late and Saturday was no exception, as he gave his team first use of the ball, while taking some big marks and working hard through the middle.
Those efforts saw him named once again as best-on-ground.
With a half-time margin of 49, a come-from-behind was not off the table for the Roos, but despite a four-goal quarter, the Cats added five of their own to extend their lead by three points.
West lost its legs in the final term and the Cats were able to bang home four unanswered goals and three behinds, while the hosts managed just a single behind.
Tynan Shannon joined Macdonald at the top-end of the best players, as the young star put in a solid performance and contributed two goals for his side.
Currie also earned a mention, alongside Cleary, Corey Jarrad and Trent Nesbitt, who all played their parts in a massive team effort.
For West, Lawry Bradley-Brown played another big game and his pressure in and around the contest provided some resistance against the Cats’ onslaught.
He also led the goal-count for his side with three for the match.
But it was Kynan Betts who was named as the Roos’ best, with his efforts around the ground first class.
The 2018 recruit has hit his straps over the last few rounds and on the weekend the hard work showed some reward.
Dylan Walsh also contributed well and earned a place in the best players, as did Wenman and Tom Holmes.
The win sees Casterton Sandford remain undefeated at the top of the ladder, while West stays a win clear of East Gambier after its upset loss to North Gambier.
Casterton Sandford coach Hamish Jarrad struggled to fault his team’s performance on Saturday and said he was pleased to see an improvement from previous meetings with the Roos.
“We really set ourselves for that game because we have been disappointed in our two performances against West so far,” he said.
“We really wanted to come out and make a statement and full credit to the group, I thought we did that.
“We played really good team-first football for the majority of the day.
“I think there was only probably 10 minutes of the whole day I wasn’t happy with.”
With West showing promise at various stages throughout the game, it was often small skill errors which cost the Roos a turnover.
“I thought our pressure on the ball was really good and that enabled us to turn the footy over in dangerous areas,” Jarrad said.
“We have been waiting to get away from Island Park and get out on the big grounds so we can really open up our running game and I thought our execution going forward Saturday was the best it’s been all year.”
Aaron Nesbitt returned to the Cats’ side on Saturday and Jarrad said he gave them “a lot of grunt in the middle”, while there still remains a few players to come back into the team from injury.
In terms of best players, Jarrad said it was the whole-team effort which he was most impressed by.
“I thought everyone played pretty well,” he said.
“Macdonald gave us first use in the ruck – obviously them not having their ruckman helped in that area – but I thought our whole midfield group worked really well.
“It was a really good team effort.”
