Bendigo Bank Cats coach Leigh Tudor yesterday lauded his side’s ability to overcome stifling Coburg tactics and surge to a runaway 31-point victory at TEAC Oval, in what he said was the side’s toughest battle of the season.
The Cats were sent crashing to the canvas midway through the third quarter and trailed by three goals, before an irresistible combination of sublime Steven King ruckwork, hardness from Max Rooke and scintillating running from Jason Davenport propelled the Cats to 10 of the last 12 goals.
In a pulsating final quarter, the Cats flexed their premiership credentials and disposed of the persistent Tigers with seven goals, heralding a threatening warning to the competition’s five other remaining finalists.
“That’s the biggest arm wrestle we’ve had all year I think,” Tudor said.
“The challenge was quarter by quarter, contest by contest, the game was on from the first bounce so we were really pleased to win like that and show our fitness in the last quarter.”
Tudor said the side’s mature players once again rose to the occasion, signalling a clear message that the players are on a mission to make a statement in the finals.
“I thought King, Rooke, (Henry) Playfair, (Jason) Davenport, (Tim) Callan all the older boys that have been around for a couple of years, even Charlie Gardiner, were the ones that really got us home,” he said.
Tom Hawkins reeled in 11 marks, many on long searching leads, as he emerged from the shadows of a less-than-fruitful month of football to play his best VFL match of the season.
Davenport gathered 30 possessions and seven marks in a typically dynamic performance off the wing, where he set the game alight with a searing running goal in the final quarter.
King obliterated inexperienced Coburg ruckman Travis Ronaldson with 34 hit outs, 26 disposals and seven marks.
Tudor labelled the matches of VFL-listed stars Scott Thompson and Jay Cheep as “just outstanding”.
Thompson was the calming influence under immense pressure in defence and netted 22 disposals from full back, while Cheep was both brilliant and explosive through the middle with 25 touches and 10 marks.
The match broke out into a shootout in the second quarter as both sides traded blows.
Coburg appeared to have the edge as it displayed indestructible confidence and audacity.
The Tigers’ counterattack was full of venom, working in numbers across halfback to send the ball forward in regular bursts of potency.
Likewise, they began to comprehensively dictate terms around the clearances, so much so that they roved to King’s ruckwork and looked dangerous when going into attack.
Tudor said Coburg’s stranglehold on the contest in the second quarter enabled it to dictate terms to the Cats in ways they had never been before, which forced them outside of their comfort zone.
“We don’t generally like to play that, we don’t really generally like to play shootout football, so I thought today, because it was such a one-on-one game, they (Coburg) had four or five guys just interchange when we interchanged blokes (because) they had set match ups,” he said.
“It interrupted our structures a little bit and we were off a little bit, where we’ve been really strong in that.
“Just their tactics made us change a little bit, probably took us until after half time for us to work out how to best play them.”
Tudor said the victory reaffirmed the significant progress the side’s younger players had made since last year’s grand final loss.
“And it’s been obvious all year,” he said.
“You can make a lot more moves when you know (you’ve got) blokes that can run out games.
“We’ve challenged the boys a lot with different things to do, and for them to take control out on the ground and for them to do a few certain things that we know works for us, it’s exactly what you want.”
Callan sustained a heavy knock to the head late in the second quarter, and although the stretcher was called, he returned in the third quarter and played out the rest of the match without any problems.
The win booked the Cats a place in the preliminary final in two week’s time – the first time the Cats’ VFL side has enjoyed the luxury of the all-important week off during the finals.
“(The week off is) Huge – you can see just by that match it went up another level,” Tudor said.
“To be able to now train for two weeks specifically for our next opponent is ideal.”
Geelong 4.4 11.7 15.14 22.16 (148)
Coburg Tigers 4.5 12.6 15.10 17.15 (117)
GOALS: Davenport 4, Cheep 4, Hawkins 3, Gardiner 2, Grima 2, King 2, Bedford 2, Playfair, West, Johnson
BEST: Hawkins King Davenport Rooke Cheep Thompson
