Cats on march to fifth finale
THE Broadbeach Cats are QAFL grand final-bound for the fifth time in their 49 year history after grinding out a 9.18 (72) to 4.5 (29) victory over Sherwood on Saturday at Subaru oval.
While coach Craig O’Brien admitted it wasn’t the Cats’ most polished performance of the season, the grinding win was enough to ensure Broadbeach continued their unbeaten run and set up a grand final date with Morningside on Saturday at Yeronga.
And when they venture north to take on the Panthers, the Cats will be chasing their third senior flag and its first since 1996, when they won the Gold Coast competition.
Sensing a win was out of reach, Sherwood adopted a defensive mindset and shifted one of their leading spearheads into defence in an attempt to curtail the Cats’ usual suspects in Jordan Moncrieff, Clay Cameron, Connor Nutting and Josh Gore.
The quartet combined for only three goals, with many shots taken under extreme pressure, but O’Brien was pleased his side was still able to find other avenues to goal.
“We didn’t play very well because they didn’t let us play very well, which meant they were going to struggle to score but we did what we had to do,” O’Brien said.
“It’s a credit to our boys and the year they’ve had that they (Sherwood) would play so defensively but it was a matter of looking after our structures and the scoreboard would look after itself.”
The victory set up the Cats’ first grand final since 2019, when they went down to Palm Beach Currumbin and the first Gold Coast-Brisbane QAFL grand final since 2015.
“I think our mindset was on the grand final, which isn’t always a bad thing during games, but in periods we were just good enough to get the job done so we’ll sharpen up and think about next week now,” O’Brien said.
“It’s a grand final and it’s all on the day and I’ve coached sides where you have a bad day and lose it. So we just have to believe in what we’ve done and hopefully it’s enough.”
O’Brien also lauded the best on ground performance of milestone defender Liam Nelson, who played his 50th game for the club.
The Cats are expected to regain former Southport Sharks ruckman Jed Turner for the decider after he suffered a knee injury at work on the eve of the game.
Broadbeach’s reserves and colts sides also qualified for their respective grand finals.
In the other final, Palm Beach Currumbin’s dreams of a fifth straight QAFL grand final were quashed by Morningside, which ran out 10.17 (77) to 8.10 (58) winners.