By Ryan Long
Overview:
After missing out on the finals in 2019 by the barest of margins, Silvan started the 2021 season as one of the biggest challenges to the Coldstream juggernaut.
Unfortunately, the Cats struggled to find some consistency throughout the year, finishing fifth on the ladder, winning five out of the eleven games. Despite their final position on the ladder, Silvan’s best footy for the year was more than worthy of a finals position. If the season continued and results went as expected, the Cats would have leapfrogged Chirnside Park to finish inside the top four.
Of all sides in Division Four, Silvan was the only side to get within five goals of the eventual minor premiers, Coldstream. They lost by just 28 points in their Round 10 clash and if it wasn’t for an eight-goal to zip second quarter, they would have come quite close to pulling off an upset in Round Three on Coldstream’s home turf.
Despite positive losses to the benchmark team of the division, the Cats were well beaten by Surrey Park and Chirnside Park twice, keeping the club outside the top four at the end of the season.
Best Win: Round 15: Silvan 15.12 102 def. Forrest Hill 7.7 49 @Forest Hill Reserve
The Cats saved their best performance of the year until last when they beat the Zebras for the second time this season, by 53 points.
Kimpton kicked a bag of five goals while star veteran, Trent Georgiou finished with the best on-field honours.
After being badly beaten by the Panthers before the week off due to restrictions, Silvan swung the axe, making six to seven changes, giving some other players more opportunities, paying off brilliantly. The win was set up by an impressive six-goal to two second-quarter before extending their lead again to be 59 points in front at the final change. It was one of Silvan’s only full four-quarter performances against a high-quality team this season.
Unfortunately, due to the cancellation of the season, we weren’t able to see if the Cats could continue this sort of form for the remainder of the home and away games and possibly a finals campaign.
Worst Loss: Round 12: Silvan 9.19 73 lost to Chirnside Park 17.9 111 @Silvan Recreational Reserve
Arguably their most disappointing result for the year, the Cats blew a big opportunity in an 8-point game against the Panthers. Silvan had two more scoring shots than their opponents yet were comfortable beaten by 38 points.
The Cats led by 15 points at quarter-time but didn’t put enough scoreboard pressure on that allowed the Panthers to get themselves back into the game with an 8 goal second term. The third quarter was a summary of the game overall, Silvan had an extra six shots but failed to make an impact, kicking 2.7 to 2.1.
Tyson Bissels and Trent Georgiou fought hard but Kimpton was unable to have much of an influence up forward, being held to just one goal.
Chirnside Park had the cats measure both times these clubs met this year, considering how close they were to each other on the ladder, the Cats will pencilling in this match up next year as an important one to redeem themselves.
Standout Player: Trent Georgiou
One of the best players in the division despite coming into the twilight of his career, Trent Georgiou has proven he can still compete at a high intensity, week after week.
Decently sized, Georgiou has been a massive influence for the cats with a booming kick that’s been very important when playing on some of the smaller grounds in the league. Even in matches this year where the Cats have competed poorly, Georgiou remained consistent, featuring in the team’s best players in eight out of the 11 games of the year.
Georgiou finished equal third in the Division Four Best and Fairest with 11 votes, also being named best on ground in three games. He also featured in the EFNL division four team of the year alongside teammate Leigh Kimpton.
Off-Season Focus:
Something that’s hurt Silvan over the last couple of years has been their inaccuracy in front of goal and their forward structure at times. Goal kicking is a simple thing to work on but it may be extremely important for the club to focus on going into next season as it’s played a role in why the Cats have finished outside of the top four in the last two seasons.
Leigh Kimpton had a great season, kicking 36 goals for the year, remaining the key target inside 50. Daniel Begley came up from the reserves in the final game of the season to give Silvan another big presence up forward. He may be a key figure for the cats in 2022 to relieve some pressure from Kimpton and Lynch and stretch their opposition defences.
Silvan had a total of 38 players to play in the senior side this year, 16 of which have kicked multiple goals so they have had a couple of opportunities to move the magnets around and work out their ideal forward line structure.
Once they’ve identified that, it will be important for the side to find some stability with their line-up from week to week.