Cats mentor welcoming selection headaches for when key players return

The undefeated Cats prevailed 18.12 (120) to 10.8 (68) against the Dogs, who also had key players injured and unavailable, in the round three Warrnambool and District league clash.

Three players the victors were missing included Brad Bull, Aaron Smith and Travis Membrey, all three of whom were named in the side's best players against Panmure in round two.

"We're not at full-strength yet, there's plenty of guys in our side that are trying to put their hand up..." Nowell told The Standard.

"We've got five or six to come back into our side so when those guys are available to start coming back in, what I liked today was seeing those players that are (still) good enough to be in your 21, really step up and give me a headache over the next couple of weeks when we start seeing a few of these blokes start coming back into our senior side.

"I was proud of those guys, they lifted in the last quarter."

Nowell praised the performances of a trio players who don't necessarily always receive the same plaudits as their teammates.

"Cooper McLean, he's a really good footballer and I thought his game today, he's probably stiff not to be in our best players," he said.

"He played on a wing he played forward, then we just had a couple of niggling injuries and we just moved him into different spots and he just went and did his job wherever we sent him.

"Kailin Jans (was also good), Patty Higgins second best on ground today for us and his run out of our half-back line was excellent.

"There's probably four or five of them that just give us 100 per cent when we put it on them in that last quarter."

Ruck Zach Jamieson was a standout for Cats while teammate Robbie Hare bagged eight goals.

Daniel Threlfall impressed for the Dogs, who had Tom Noonan kick four majors.

The Cats led the Dogs 18-17 at the first break before winning the second and fourth terms 42-1 and 45-7.

They lost the third quarter 43-15.

Nowell said his side didn't stick to the plan and "went into our shell a little bit" against a good side during that period.

He was pleased with the way the side responded in the fourth term.

"Just the way they responded and took the game on in the last quarter really proved to me that we're only going to get better and stronger," he said.

"We've just got to get a little bit more consistency in our game-plan and once the boys can build that consistency I think we'll have some stronger results."

Meanwhile, Merrivale showed its class in a 15.11 (101) to 3.7 (25) win against South Rovers at Merrivale Recreation Reserve.

The Tigers, who sit first but have played an extra game than most teams, were best served by Jack Gleeson and Wilson Lenehan.

Key forward Nathan Krepp kicked four goals for the hosts whilst his teammates Jack Neave and Hamish Gurry, the latter in his first senior game of the season, snagged three majors each.

Matt Edwards was influential for the Rovers, who are still searching for their first win of the campaign.