Friday night footy hit-out at the Pond in a game that had everything. Despite Farum taking the points, the Cudas boys put on a great show of tough, skillful footy. After years of bruising contests between familiar faces from these two DAFL powerhouse teams, it was a new crop of players from both sides that caught the eye initially. The Cats showed their class early with a couple of Adelaide boys showing some serious skill (no surprise there). If it wasn’t for the relentless repelling work of Jason ‘I’m having Nunn of that’ Nunn, the Cudas would have been out of the contest by quarter time.

William ‘Willy Barrie Good’ Barrie lived up to the hype, with ferocious attack on the footy at the stoppages, clean entry into the forward arc and 3 brilliant goals to cap an outstanding game. Scotty ‘Looks like Jane, Plays like Tarzan’ Wylie was finding it tough on an in-form Psycho, but a move into the middle cut the chains and saw him swing the game back in the Cudas’ favour. While his spectacular leaping and flashy moves are great to watch, it was his head-over-the ball, hard nose attack that impressed the most. Thomas ‘The Greater’ Page was explosive all day, repeatedly leaving Cat’s players in his wake with his blistering speed, setting up attacks with creative handball and laying some of the most ferocious tackles you’re likely to see. Kane ‘Smell around corners’ Perkins was cracking in doing the regular ‘Kane’ stuff and also showed his arial strength throughout the game. This guy is such a brutal contributor every game, his departure in a couple of weeks will leave a gaping wound in our midfield.

The game ebbed and flowed with Farum going into the long break with an 11 point lead. Cudas came out firing and started to dictate play. Christian ‘Shutdown’ Poulsen moved onto the big cat and spoiled the rest of his afternoon, working him like he works a well oiled Vietnamese furniture production line. How someone in his second year of footy can do what he did is beyond me, incredible. Speaking of incredible, Fraser ‘The Peleton Prince’ Lane played the perfect forward game, feeding the runners and knowing when to shoot. Some lovely set shots saw him finish with 4 or 5 snags, and only burn a record-low 8 team mates.

Everyone contributed strongly to what was a fantastic game of footy. We set the tone for what sort of footy comp we want to be a part of by allowing the Cats a few liberties and lending them a few players throughout. A huge thanks to Elliot, Ras, Jack and Fraser H for stepping up.

Big man’s “small man”. Ryan gets his pinky checked out, post-match.

Eddie was magnificent with the whistle – knowing when to let it roll but rewarding the tough tackles.

Now back to the drawing board, and the Cudas will be sure to take the lessons learnt and consolidate over the coming weeks. Ready to come out again to dominate the DAFL.