HDFNL | Cats head into bye on a high

A tight first term had LBU in front by just seven points at quarter-time, but the Cats powered away with nine goals to three for the rest of the game to pick up the win.

LBU coach Brodie Collins said the performance wasn’t exactly the prettiest football to watch.

“It was a pretty dour sort of game,” Collins said. “We battled hard and got the win, that’s the main thing.

“Huntly made us really work for it. It was a scrappy game. Both defences held up well and both forward lines probably struggled.

“Conditions were beautiful, we just butchered the footy a bit and made some bad decisions when we had it. It was definitely a lot closer than what the scoreboard says.”

LBU was held to its lowest score of the season by Huntly, with Saturday the first time the Cats have failed to reach 100 points this season.

But Collins said the most important thing was his side came away with the four points.

“We’re happy to get the win in the end,” he said.

“At the end of the day, you can’t be up and about every game, it is just not possible. Sometimes you have to win ugly. It was still pleasing to get the win.

“It just highlights the areas that we have to work on. We’ll go into the bye, hopefully get a refresh and be mentally ready to go after the break.”

Marcus Angove, Joss Howlett, Charlie Hinks and Mitchell Laursen were some of LBU’s best on the day, with Collins saying he was pleased with Laursen as well as Jacob Gardiner

“I thought Mitch was good, Jacob just battles hard,” Collins said. “He always gives 110 per cent, the same as Mitch. It was really pleasing.”

Tyler Phillips was the leading goalkicker for the Cats with four, with Howlett and Anthony McMahon both kicking two majors.

For Huntly, Luke Gray was the top goalscorer of the day with three, while Jake Maher, Mitchell Christensen, Brandon Dimech and Travis Mercadante were among the best.

The win for LBU extends its winning streak to 16 games, with the Cats sitting atop the HDFL ladder heading into the bye.

Collins said he was pleased with where his side was at early on in the season, but he wasn’t getting carried away.

“I’m pleased, you have to be. I’m rapt,” he said.

“We’re pleased with where we are at the moment, but it is only May. It’s still early, so we aren’t jumping up and down yet, we still have plenty of work to do and plenty of improvement in us.”

A big clash awaits LBU after its week off, with the Cats set to face fellow undefeated side Mount Pleasant in round six.

On the netball court, LBU came agonisingly close to picking up its second win of the season, falling to Huntly by three goals.

The Cats were up by six goals early on in the game and held the lead in the last quarter, but a strong-finishing Huntly overtook them late to win 42-39.

LBU coach Jess Hardess said a lack of execution proved costly as the more consistent Hawks slowly got on top.

“We started strong, but unfortunately there were a few undisciplined errors and a few game play things that we couldn’t keep up for the whole game,” Hardess said.

“We were up by six, but Huntly maintained more consistency through the day and they won the next three quarters.

“They got on top of us in the last quarter. We went in two up and we ended up three down. They really capitalised on us and put in a full-court, high-pressure defence that we couldn’t get around.”

Tracey Ogden, Jesie Milligan and Imogen Mackenzie were three of LBU’s best players on Saturday, Hardess said.

“Tracey and Jesie had a really great game in defence, and they were really strong on the transverse lines. Imogen really stood up too, she worked hard in defence as well as offence,” she said.