Tara Murray
Macedon’s stunning finals run in the Riddell District Football League has ended in the preliminary final on Saturday.
After finishing fifth, the Cats had upset Romsey and then Diggers Rest to win through to a preliminary final with Wallan.
At half time on Saturday, scores were level.
There was no second half heroics from the Cats this week, with the Magpies going on to win, 9/8 (62)-5.5 (35).
Cats coach Al Meldrum said while it wasn’t their best game they were still confident heading into the second half.
“We are really proud of the group,” he said. “Going into the second half scores were level and we hadn’t played super well.
“We had room for improvement in the second half. We knew what we wanted to achieve and Wallan didn’t allow us to do anything that we wanted to.”
Meldrum said they weren’t able to get their link up chains going in the second half, partly due to execution as well as Wallan’s pressure.
He said while they weren’t able to execute, he couldn’t question the endeavour of the playing group.
Jason Cooke was the only multiple goalkicker for the Cats with two goals.
Jacob Gough, Lachlan Hay and Aaron Morham were named their best.
While flat with the result, Meldrum said they were so proud of what they had achieved this season.
“We finished fifth with an 8-8 record,” he said. “We then won two finals against teams that we had not beaten.
“The growth and development with lots of blooding of younger players who showed they were more than capable.
“It’s great for the future.”
The Cats had 12 under-18 players play throughout the season, with nine teenagers playing in the preliminary final.
Meldrum said it was amazing for those guys to experience playing senior finals.
“They played in three senior finals and they were able to win two,” he said. “They weren’t overawed. We’ll continue to build and blood young players. It wasn’t just this year, it was last year too.
“I take my hat off to the experienced guys that has raised their games as well to go with the younger players.”
