ALBION has turned the Western Region Football League division 1 finals race upside down.
The Cats had unbackable favourites Spotswood in a state of confusion as they powered to a commanding 34-point second semi-final win at Chirnside Park in Werribee on Saturday.
The against-the-odds victory saw the Cats advance directly to the grand final and, more importantly, strike a psychological blow to the wobbly Woodsmen in their quest for four successive premierships.
Cats coach Paul Harrison was thrilled with the turnaround from the last time the two teams met.
"I'm extremely proud of the boys," Harrison said.
"It's been an enormous turnaround.
"They embarrassed us at their ground last time.
"We came off after that game realising what we dished up that day wasn't good enough."
That bleak day back in June saw the Woodsmen record a comprehensive 81-point win at McLean Reserve.
The Woodsmen had a whopping 41 scoring shots to 15 and were seemingly far and away out of the Cats league.
What the heavy loss allowed Harrison to do was go back to the drawing board and tinker with his processes.
Of paramount importance was the players buying into the new order and it was followed to the nth degree on Saturday.
"It forced us to do a bit of an overhaul," Harrison revealed.
The Cats were on fire early.
They were clearly the more switched on man-for-man alongside the Woodsmen opponents.
The first quarter dominance showed on the scoreboard as the Cats went to quarter-time with a 20-point lead.
They showed their cards from the outset.
"We were focused on winning the contested footy, winning first possession and making our tackles stick," Harrison said.
"We were certainly hard at it, we put our head over the footy and that's how we thought we could beat them.
"We wanted to put them under pressure and not let them get their run-on game going and choke them every chance we had and I thought we achieved that."
The Woodsmen were confused.
They struggled to break the Cats' zones and were forced into errors as deep as their last line of defence.
The Cats' tackle pressure and intensity was like nothing the Woodsmen have seen at any stage this season.
The game was over midway through the third term as the margin blew out beyond 50 points before a late Woodsmen rally added some respectability.
"It was a team effort," Harrison said.
"I don't want to single out any guys.
"I couldn't have been more pleased."
The Cats had winners on all lines.
James Philpot was clean in his tap work and dominating as an aerial presence around the ground.
Daniel Bonnici was like a Hoover as he burrowed beneath the packs to win the hard ball.
Marcus Smith continued his great recent form with another stellar performance in the midfield.
At the back, John Haldane did as he only knows how to do and that's never let up for 120 minutes as a workman-like defender.
Glenn Manton was afforded too much freedom on the half-back line and set up play with ease.
Shaydon Bloomfield booted four goals, and was just as impressive for his frontal pressure.
SCOREBOARD WRFL
Division 1
Second semi-final: Albion 18.10 (118) d Spotswood 13.6 (84)
The Cats will enjoy a week's rest to nurse any bumps and bruises.
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