Football
28 May, 2025
Saints march on to consecutive wins
Horsham Saints marched on to their second win in a matter of weeks on Saturday, accounting for the Thunder 14.6 (90) to 8.5 (53).
It was a breeze-hampered start for the Saints, and they trailled by a couple of goals at the end of the first quarter, but a big second term, booting 7.4 points to the Thunder's 1.1, saw the Horsham side lead by 27 points at half-time.
Heading into the last quarter, that lead had been reduced to 20 points, but another big term from the Saints saw them claim the 37-point win.
Better players for the Saints were Cody Bryan and Zac Van Buuren, with Bryan booting four majors, while the Thunder were better served by Billy Lloyd and Zachary Robins, with Brayden Ison kicking three.
Coach of the Saints, Ben Knott, described the victory as a "good win".
"We feel we have been building for a few weeks now and it's nice to get back-to-back wins," Knott said.
"It's given us a bit of confidence, and for our effort, it's a reward."
Knott said his side were comfortable after the first quarter, despite being down at the break because of the advantage of the wind that went against his side initially.
"We were happy with our first quarter despite being down and as you can see we came out and piled on seven goals in the second when we had the breeze," he said.
There were many highlights to take from the game but one of the biggest was the performance from the club's youngsters.
"We have five 17-and-unders in the team and every one of them stood up," he said.
"It was leaders leading the way, but the blokes who are younger, they all stepped up."
Knott revealed that six games in, the club had used only about 23 or 24 players in the senior side.
"It's been a pretty settled team," he said.
"It's a group getting a bit of continuity."
And he said the depth of talent coming through the club's ranks was thanks to their junior program.
"We are lucky because we have a strong junior program and it starts with the Auskick," he said.
"We have 100 kids running around the oval at Auskick on a Thursday and our under 17s, I think, are undefeated.
"There's even a couple more in there I'd like to give a go at a point during the year."
Knott said the club knew where they were at, and they felt there was a core group and if they could keep everyone together in the next few years they would be competitive every year.
But on Saturday, it was the likes of Van Buuren, Jack Henry and Levi Munyard who led the competitiveness for the side,
"They aren't even 18 yet," the coach said.
"It was good to see Cody Bryan: he's probably had a bit of an indifferent start to the year so it's good to see him hit some form, get the footy and kick us four goals."
