Sport
6 May, 2026
Giants on rampage
IF LIFE were a fairy tale, then Coleraine would have slayed for the Dartmoor Giants at Silvester Oval on Saturday, but these things do not happen in real life and Dartmoor continued its undefeated start to the 2026 South West District Football Netball League season with a 144-point win, 24.27 (171) to 4.3 (27).
With the weather gods finally turning on the footy weather for the two teams after a hot April, the players were set to showcase their skills on a fast surface with both teams looking to run the ball.
The home team unveiled three debutants for the match with Thomas Paton, Leo McConachy and Darcy Eats all earning their place in the top grade through hard work and good performances over the past month.
The first quarter saw the game play out as expected as Dartmoor taking the ball from the middle through a solid midfield that continually sent the ball into the forward 50m arc seeking a forward to finish off the good work.
With 12 shots on goal for the term, it was poor kicking from the Giants forwards that kept Coleraine in the contest as the visitors ended the quarter with 2.10 on the board to a lone major from the Maroons.
That forward thrust continued into the second stanza but the Giants were still wayward in front of goal as they entered the long break with a 51-point lead that really should have been more than 100 had they had the radar working.
Upon returning to the field for the third quarter, both teams were looking to play even more fast open football with a total of 12 majors being booted between the teams.
The home side added two of their own but it was Dartmoor that finally kicked more goals than behinds in a quarter as they piled on 10.7 to take the margin out to 105 at the final change of ends.
Fatigue again caught up with the young Coleraine team for the third game in succession and Dartmoor added another seven goals in the final term to finish with 51 shots on goal for the game, but if the radar had of been fine tuned then the score could have been massive.
Nathan Surkitt, Rhyan Menzel, Hunter Ferey, Adam Ward, Ben McKelvie and Jack Wright never gave up for the home side and were rightly named as being the Maroons best, while William Macdonald, Ethan Murdock (five goals), Dale Bachmann (four goals), Lachlan Glare, Christian Howlett (seven goals) and Corben O’Dea were the pick of a very good team.
Best-on for the second time this season, 2026 Giant recruit Macdonald dominated around the ground all day, the Coleraine ruckmen giving him little trouble when it came to directing the play from a ball-up.
A former Casterton Sandford club medallist and fresh from Port MacDonnell in the Mid South East league, Macdonald said he was enjoying being back among familiar faces.
“I have known a lot of the fellas here for years because I used to work at the (Dartmoor timber mill) and I’m still mates with a lot of them now,” he said.
“They’re lovely people, all really welcoming, I’m really enjoying my footy.
The boys managed to traverse the field, from one end to another, with absolute precision, direct chip kicks both in and out of the centre being marked with safe hands.
This play and marking ability was showcased all the way down to the forward line, where West did manage to win the ball back briefly but kicked shockingly across the face of goal, the pass shooting directly over its targets head and into the hands of Fletcher McKinnon, who ran in and slammed the Cats’ fifth major through.
West won the following tap and came directly out the front of the centre circle, captain Kalan Schultze launching a booming ball through the middle to tie the scores again.
The scores were tied only briefly as Fraser Richardson won a free kick and bullet passed it forward to a leading Darcy Gorman at the top of the goal square, who ran in and once again restored the one goal Casterton Sandford lead, while kicking his third in the process.
As had previously occurred however, the lead was only brief, West Gambier scrambling forward and outnumbering the Cats, who, to their credit, did incredibly well to stop a goal, but were eventually worked through for another West goal, the scores being tied for the third time in the quarter, 39-apiece.
This was quickly becoming the game of the year.
The Cats won the next inside 50 entry and were not able to initially go straight for goal as they had previously, but either way got the Sherrin all the way to the goal line, where it was picked up by Zeb Beaton near the behind post and dribbled home for a spectacular goal for the Cats’ seventh and his second and a Cats lead for the umpteenth time.
In doing this, this was the grade’s highest score since round 13, 2024 and it was not even three-quarter-time.
West were able to go forward for a final time in the quarter, but again could not capitalise on the scoreboard, missing not once but twice, one from a set shot, another resulting from something of which I am unsure, as all I had written down was ‘West kick behind’.
The Cats took a four-point lead into three quarter time, but were kicking with the wind in the last and were fuller with confidence than ever before.
The boys got in a tight huddle and encouraged each other on for one last quarter of the scintillating football they had been playing, the belief was there they could take themselves to the first win many of them had experienced.
The final stanza began and West, as they had done in every quarter, went forward first, but ferocious and determined tackling from the Cats saved the goal, and the lead, on multiple occasions.
The Cats got it forward and were applying unbelievable pressure to an under siege backline, the Kangaroos desperately defending against a surging Cats outfit.
They won the backline battle and looked out through the middle of the ground, handballing forward and running and carrying with confidence.
It looked like a certain score.
The goal and the lead beckoned, but astoundingly, a kick from 20 metres out skewed almost out on the full, before the ball was picked up and handballed into the corridor for yet again another almost certain score, but somehow, this kick also shot off the side of the boot and missed the lot.
The Cats took this advantage and transitioned up the field lightning quick, getting the ball to Darcy Gorman, who was in acres of his own space and strolled in for his fourth goal to put the Cats out by 10!
The Cats were so close they could feel it and that feeling was made better when Casterton Sandford again went forth to our top forward Darcy Gorman, who was 40 metres out on a 45-degree angle.
Darcy took all of his allotted time, steadily came in and split the middle perfectly, sending the crowd and his teammates alike into an absolute frenzy and with five minutes left, virtually sealed the first Cats win since round 15 of 2024
The Roos were not going to lie down, but a Cats outfit that was storming away and a clock that had become an enemy was always going to make it difficult.
They did get it forward and quickly pull the goal back, their number 15, Mitchell Bowering, rushing back and putting one through to pull the margin back to 10 with the clock down to three minutes.
The Cats won the clearance and went forward for one behind, but West were still trying and trying to give themselves a shot and got it forward to their big forward Hunter Wyatt, who rushed through his routine with the clock now down to a minute and sent it out on the full.
Casterton Sandford was going to hold on!
The Cats finished with another transition into their forward line, the ball going to ground and being handed to the umpire for a throw up as the siren sounded.
An 11-point win!
The Cats came together, elation and excitement flowing as they celebrated their first win in over a year, a win, which after three great efforts to no avail to start the year, 16 losses last year, nine of which were over 100 points and 21 losses in a row in total, was so, so well-deserved and so, so needed.
This win was to be our young Cats’ momentum-changing and season-defining win and with the belief there, anything is possible.
Credit to the Cats’ coaching staff, headed by Phil Sidoti, for coaching the boys into a winning team and credit to these boys, who have stuck with it in thrashing after thrashing after thrashing, this was reward for all of that pain.
This week the 14.5s head to Blue Lake Sports Park to take on South Gambier White, who started the year with a damaging loss to West Gambier Red and a single point win over East Gambier Red.
It was great to see the boys prevail after so many defeats, and they will fancy themselves to win again in this next game.
Go the Cats!
Read More: Casterton