GAZZA: MY BEST IS STILL TO COME
Selection headache looms for coach as Cats forward line fires
GEELONG coach Chris Scott is ready to embrace the forward selection headache that confronts him in the second half of the season.
The Cats’ forward line flexed its muscle in Saturday night’s 85-point demolition of Gold Coast, looking the best it had all season, piling on 17.19.
With Daniel Menzel set to return in the coming weeks, Cory Gregson and Stewart Crameri unlucky to miss out against the Suns and defender-turned-forward Ryan Gardner bagging six goals in Geelong’s VFL win over the Northern Blues, the squeeze for places is certainly on.
AN inspiring second-half comeback led by sixteen-yearold Ally Knights catapulted the Lady Supercats into the top eight on the SEABL ladder.
Knights “turned the tide of the game” in the 75-67 win over Frankston on Saturday night.
With Isabella Brancatisano and Ellen Kett both overseas, it was Knights among a host of others that stepped up to score 47 points in the second-half to run away with the important victory.
Coach David Herbert praised his side’s “courageous victory”, singling out Knights who made three crucial threepointers down the stretch in her first game of considerable minutes at SEABL level.
“Ally Knights was as good as anyone … it was her first real minutes in the SEABL,” Herbert said.
“She stuck three threepointers, played incredible defence and I couldn’t ask anything more from a 16-yearold coming off the bench.
“She’s a very professional young player for her age and she may well find herself with some more minutes.”
Knights — the daughter of Geelong AFL assistant coach Matthew Knights — is a product of the Supercats’ junior program and has been training at a high level for a number of years, with Saturday night’s performance a reward for her determination, Herbert said.
“The kid is in here everyday working, practising and getting better,” he said.
“You take a young kid from your program that’s been training so long, she gets the opportunity and she smashes the game — it was tremendous.
“I actually just wish the girls gave her the ball a little more because she was terrific.”
The Lady Supercats started to show signs of an improving chemistry within the group, with key imports Chelsea Poppens (13 points and eight rebounds) and Daniela Wallen (12 points and nine rebounds) important in their side’s victory, while Ebony Rolph scored an equal game-high 18 points to go with her eight rebounds.
With six home games to come for the Supercats in the back half of their season, the platform is set to cement their place in the top eight.
“We’ll have a full group back for the second half of the season. We are gradually learning to play with each other,” Herbert said.
“We are nowhere near our potential at the moment, so every win is a bonus. Chelsea and Daniela are a major part for us. It’s just about everyone understanding their strengths and building on them.”