REPLAYS: Huonville Lions do the double, beating Dodges Ferry, to help their finals cause in seniors and reserves
The Lions tamed the Sharks in reserves and seniors on a strong day out for the club. Check the REPLAYS.
Aussie Rules Live Stream
Don't miss out on the headlines from Aussie Rules Live Stream. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Huonville Lions maintained their spot in the top-five, keeping their finals chances alive, with a 61-point win over Dodges Ferry in the SFL.
After a close contest early in the first term, the Lions powered away in the second term, kicking six goals to one to build a 40-point lead at quarter time.
The Lions were never headed afterwards, extending the margin in the second half, to win by more than 10 goals.
It was the fifth time this season the team kicked more than 100 points.
The win was the Lions sixth win this season and keeps them two games clear of sixth and out of the finals.
CATCH A REPLAY OF THE SENIORS ABOVE.
Dodges Ferry v Huonville Lions (Reserves)
Earlier, Huonville Lions kept up their push for a top two finish in the SFL Reserves competition with a 98-point blitzing of Dodges Ferry on Saturday.
The Lions, who have the best percentage of anyone in the league, maintained the pressure on second-place Cygnet with five rounds remaining before the finals with a 19.7 (123) to 3.5 (23) victory.
Next weekend’s clash with runaway leaders Brighton is certainly shaping as season defining.
This game was effectively done by quarter time when Huonville kicked 4.3 to 0.1. They added a further six goals in the second quarter and seven more in the third quarter.
PREVIEW
After securing their biggest win of the season last week, Huonville Lions vice-captain Rhys Ward is confident his side can make a run towards the SFL finals.
The Lions, who sit fifth on the seniors ladder, will need to pull out all the stops over the remaining rounds to secure their September destiny.
It starts this weekend against Dodges Ferry Sharks.
The double header, which kicks off with the reserves clash at 12pm, will be exclusively live streamed on KommunityTV and the Hobart Mercury.
The Lions put both a tough run of form and injury behind them in Round 12 to knock off arch rivals Cygnet by 25 points. The win ended Cygnett’s unbeaten run through the SFL season.
After going down to both Sorell and New Norfolk in the last month, Ward said the win over the Port gave the group plenty of confidence they can make a second consecutive grand final this season.
“It certainly gives us a lot of confidence, especially for the younger group that we’ve got coming through,” Ward said.
“I think a lot of us had the belief already and sort of knew that we were probably were not playing the way we wanted to or where we should be, but especially for some of those younger guys that haven’t played a lot of senior footy, a win like that’s massive for their confidence and belief that they belong at the level and that the team is as good as we hope we are.
“We copped a couple of losses we probably weren’t expecting or hoping to have earlier in the year, so to be able to beat the yardstick of the competition is a massive one for us at this time of year.”
While they may now hold a two-game and massive percentage buffer on fifth position, Ward said the final six weeks of the season were crucial to their premiership chances given the goal was to once again challenge for the flag after falling just short in 2023.
“Every game is very important to get into that top three and that’s where we want to finish at the end of the year,” he said.
While the Lions will head into the round 13 matchup full of confidence, Dodges Ferry will be searching for its first win since round 8.
The Sharks are in the midst of a four-game losing streak with Jess Tegg’s side going down by a combined 189-points against Brighton, Lindisfarne and New Norfolk before last week’s 13-point loss to Sorell.
Captain Luke Murphy said that while it had been a tough season to date, the focus of developing the clubs’ young talent would hold them in good stead for the future.
“We’ve just touched on how young we are and the injuries we’ve had,” Murphy said.
“But we are just trying to stick together and keep the vibe up and just enjoy the time together and obviously we’re building for something greater.
“For the older boys I think it’s more exciting (with the youth coming through). I’ve spoken to a fair few of them and they’ve actually told me they’re enjoying their footy a bit more.
Despite going down to the Lions by 61 points in their last encounter, Murphy was confident they could present a better challenge in Saturday’s match given they let Huonville open their previous matchup with a nine-goal first-quarter.
“I think we showed what we can do against them down there for the last three quarters,” he said.
“I think if we just bring our best footy and actually stick to our structure and play the way we want to play, we might catch them out, but obviously (them) being full strength again makes it a challenge.”
Originally published as REPLAYS: Huonville Lions do the double, beating Dodges Ferry, to help their finals cause in seniors and reserves
REPLAYS: AFLQ Schools Cup, SEQ secondary quarterfinals, Day 1
It was a successful day for St Laurence’s, while the Marymount senior girls title tilt was ended by St Rita’s. Check out all REPLYS and return on Wednesday for eight more games LIVE.
REPLAYS: Four-time champs out as Sacred Heart powers on
Neave Dickson kicked four goals as last year’s Herald Sun Shield Division 2 girls champs graduated to a Division 1 shock. Catch up on the Intermediate Boys and Senior Girls play in REPLAYS.