Time for Cygnet to show what it’s made of

IN his first season at the helm of Cygnet, coach Ben Cato always felt his side would be better in the second half of the SFL campaign than the first.

And with the midway point of the year having arrived, he will now start to get an indication of how much his side has improved.

The Port (4-4) hosts Dodges Ferry (5-3) in a crunch clash this afternoon, looking to not only inflict its first defeat on a team above it in 2017 but also keep sixth-placed Huonville (3-5) at bay in the jostle for top-five positions.

In the corresponding fixture in Round 1 it was the Sharks who emerged with a 47-point victory, the start of a tough start for Cato’s coaching tenure that was followed by losses to Claremont and Lindisfarne.

“Everyone hopes it will just fall into place early, but copping a couple of injuries didn’t help. But they are a keen group, they want to learn, we are slowly getting there,” Cato said.

“We’ve certainly improved over the time, the boys are starting to learn a new style of footy and hopefully we can have a big second half of the year.

“[Today’s match] is really big, they’re up there with the really big improvers this year with a couple of good players and we are only a game behind. Hopefully we can cement that spot in the finals and get an extra game on Huonville and push on for the rest of the year.”

Cato concedes there is a sizeable gap between frontrunners New Norfolk and Lindisfarne and dual reigning premier Claremont, but he refuses to believe the premiership is a threehorse race.

“There is definitely a gap, Lindisfarne has been up there for a while, New Norfolk has some players back, they have a few years of being up there. Cygnet had a half-decent year last year, but they are still building with a few young blokes.

“It is a gap we have to close, and we are working towards that.”

Today’s other intriguing contest pits seventh-placed Hobart against Huonville at the TCA, while the remaining two games should see New Norfolk and Claremont have easy wins over Brighton and Sorell respectively.