Ellinbank and District Football League – match of the day

By Ken Moore
CATANI sent a powerful message to all rivals that it’s still a team to be reckoned with this season after thrashing recent archrivals Nyora by 136 points in the EDFL opening round match of day on Saturday.
Star Blues’ recruit Luke James displayed his exquisite skills and put on a clinic, kicking four first-quarter goals and went on to register a dozen in a best-on-ground performance.
Emblazoned in pink jumpers to support the Cancer Council of Victoria, Catani, the home side, started sluggishly and it was the visitors, Nyora that hit the ground running – scoring four majors inside the first 10 minutes before the Blues in their pink jumpers proceeded to take total control.
Strong forward work by Saint captain-coach Jason Hill and tall forward Billy Hessells troubled Catani early and saw it race to an 18-point lead, but thereafter Nyora supporters had little to be enthused about.
From midway through the first term the Catani midfield, led by emerging youngsters Phil Strahan and Kaine Wedlock, Buln Buln recruit Luke Nobelius, Aaron Alger and Chris Teniseli started to win kicks at will and Catani went into the first change with a 39-point lead.
Kicking with the wind advantage in the second quarter, the Saints were expected to peg back the margin, but disappointingly for its travelling supporters they fell further behind and trailed by 62 points at the main break.
The game died as a spectacle less than 10 minutes into the second quarter when James steered through his third goal for the quarter and it was patently obvious the Saints were not going to mount a miracle comeback.
Thanks to classy on-baller Antonio Benevenuto, Luke Harris, Justin Evans and Garfield recruit Shaun Pickering, Catani monopolised the ball and for large parts of the quarter turned the game into a keepings-off contest.
Nyora’s slim hopes of a revival were dealt a major blow mid term when key defender Andrew Collis was ironed out by a fearsome bump from rugged Catani utility Paul Youle.
Collis had the courage to stand up before signalling to the bench that he was not in a fit state to continue and after the game club officials reported the hard-nut defender had sustained a cracked collarbone.
The second half continued in a similar vein to the first and Catani went on to stretch its lead in each quarter.
Missing well over a dozen of its regulars from last season, Nyora was overshadowed in all departments and bore little resemblance of the dominant side that was the equal to any in the competition in recent years.
Assistant coach Corey Wilson tried hard and won many kicks, however many of these were mopping up in defence where he couldn’t hurt the opposition.
Matt Hutchinson gave his team good service while Jason Isaac, Adam Tagliaferro and Brendan Hodge all laboured hard on the defensive side of the centre.
It appears Nyora is no longer overloaded with talent and will struggle this season. Catani still has a good mix of seasoned and quality players and with Luke James, possibly the recruit of the season, it will aim to be in the thick of things at the business end of the season.