GEELONG’s defenders and forwards have faced-off in a hotly disputed round-robin tournament at the home of Matthew Scarlett, with the two groups coming together in a team bonding experience.

The players butted heads in a number of different disciplines late last week, including a freshly created sport named after its inventor Zach Tuohy.

‘Reg Ball’ has its origins in the Cats gym at GMHBA Stadium, with players regularly going head-to-head.

“We played a bit of Reg Ball which is a bit of a combination of keep-ups with a soccer ball and tennis,” forward Tom Hawkins says.

“We played tennis, Henderson v Hawkins, and I actually lost so that was disappointing.

“I’m very competitive, as is Hendo. He’s got a really good game and we actually both love playing tennis and pride ourselves on it.

“Hendo was too good, he’s got a nice serve and a nice backhand, but he controls the court well and his ball-placement is really good.”

It was a resounding victory for the defenders on the afternoon. 

“Comprehensive I think is the word that was getting thrown around,” defender Zach Tuohy says.

“No one showed up for the forwards. We had Stewie, he participated in a lot of games and performed very, very well.

“Blitz is in his element, to be fair Blitz put it together so he’d want to play well.”

The two groups have taken on their own identities in recent years, with the defensive group now known as the Misfits after the mismatched nature of the cohort.

The forwards have taken on the Wolfpack label after their rabid forward pressure, something which Tuohy questions.

“It’s just kind of embarrassing, they saw what we did, we were the ones who started this whole thing and now they’ve gone and called themselves whatever they are,” he says.

“They’ve got wolfhounds and I’m sorry but the wolfhound on their t-shirt is clearly a kangaroo, so first of all you messed up. It was a good effort, nice of them to try.”

There was no expense spared on the afternoon, with both sides printing t-shirts to serve as team uniforms.

“I know Reg is probably taking the piss a bit, but ours was very well designed by Tommy Atkins,” Hawkins says.

“He’s arguably our spiritual leader of the wolfpack. It was a serious work of art – so he did well.” 

“Obviously the Misfits have got their sort of gothic, heavy-metal type logo that they run with, probably a bit more adventurous but by nature the forwards are probably a bit more adventurous.”

Hawkins believes the Wolf Pack were under-resourced on the day.

“We probably just lacked a few numbers to be fair,” he says

“We had a few on the injury comeback so it meant that they couldn’t participate as much as they wanted. That’s probably as big as anything.

“We sorely missed Fogarty, Dahlhaus, Rohan and Jenkins wasn’t there, Ablett, so yeah a few of those guys to inject a bit of experience into the line-up we could have fared a bit better. 

“We went down miserably, I think it was like a 6-1 defeat, so we weren’t in it at all.”

While most clubs would spread across the country over a break, the fact the Cats chose to spend it together speaks volumes.

Despite the hot competition, the two groups share a bond that forms a strong foundation for the season to come.

“(Today) we just did some match-play and there was a little bit of tension but if anything, there’s more respect,” Tuohy says.

 “It was really good fun, I can’t help but feel the forwards and backs have a fair bit in common. We tend to do a lot of the heavy lifting at either end of the ground.”