Tocumwal upsets Katunga in last Picola and District league game

A country club has gone from a winless 2019 season to playing a major role in the outlook of their competition’s finals series.

Tocumwal’s improvement has been one of the feel good stories of the 2021 Picola and District league season.

And on Saturday, it had a grandstand finish as the Bloods overcame finals contender Katunga, who could have moved to equal fourth, by 30 points.

In 2019, Tocumwal didn’t win a game and finished the season with a percentage of just over 18.

This year, they’ll finished the condensed season with four wins and 10 losses.

But their final win was the best of the lot according to playing coach Kade Rowe.

“It was our strongest performance of the season,” he said.

The Bloods improvement was shown by how they responded at halftime when they trailed by 27 points.

They kicked six goals to two in the third term to lead the contest by a kick.

“We continued to work and it all paid off,” Rowe said.

“I told the boys at the break we just needed to cut the lead back and we would have given ourselves a chance.

“But it turned out to be one of our best quarters of the season. We could have easily thrown in the towel but we wanted to end our season on a high.”

Rowe led from the front in a best on ground display while Jacob Sampson impressed with a five-goal haul.

Blair Eddy, Cory Parish, Jon-Ross Cardillo and Drew Haebich, who finished the afternoon with four goals, were also named among their side’s better players.

“I couldn’t be prouder of how far this group has come,” Rowe said.

“Now we’ll start planning for next season and hopefully add some new faces to help us improve again.

“But I know internally the boys we already have here are committed to getting the best out of themselves.”

Tocumwal will have a bye in the last round of the home and away season.

Katunga face a huge clash with Katamatite in a game which will help shape the first week of finals.