TSL Tigers sink their teeth into Roos and now face a blockbuster against reigning premier Launceston
The Tigers have mauled the Roos with a five-goal haul by forward Tyler Carter, with the team’s coach saying “Bring on Launceston”. MATCH WRAP >>
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A PERFECT start to the TSL season has the Tigers walking tall and after disposing of southern rival Clarence at North Hobart Oval on Saturday the eye of the tiger now is firmly focused on next week’s blockbuster clash with reigning premier Launceston at the Twin Ovals.
The Tigers were made to work overtime for their win over Clarence, which started slowly, flexed its muscle and then faded late as the poised Tiges ran away with a 32-point win _ 14.9 (93) to 8.13 (61).
After beating Lauderdale in round one and Clarence with poise, the Tigers will prepare for their big test against the Blues.
“No matter if it’s at the Twin Ovals or Windsor Park, it’s the toughest challenge,” said Tigers coach Trent Baumeler.
“They’re two-time premiers, they are the best team in this whole thing, they are well-coached, they’ve got some quality players, so it’s great for us to get that test.
“We had two really good games against them at the Twin Ovals last year. We are looking forward to it. It’s a big challenge, it’s an important game for us and maybe even the competition that we stand up and have a really good game.”
The boys in black and yellow were on from the start against Clarence, kicking six of the first seven goals, including a Tyler Carter double in 53 seconds at the start of the second term.
At that stage they led 40-12 and red and white hearts were sinking and the club’s new coach Peter Ryan searched for a response, and then onballer Mitch Rainbird kick-started the Roo revival.
Goals to Keren Howlett, Colin Garland, Keegan Ryan and Ollie Preshaw brought Clarence back into the contest, trailing by only four points deep into time-on until Carter book-ended an excellent quarter with a goal for the Tigers just before the main breakm part of his bag of five for the day.
The Tigers kicked seven of the 10 goals scored in the second half, with its backline harder to crack than a bank safe, Kieran Lovell ruling the midfield and twin towers Marcus Gardner and Jack Tomkinson controlling the airspace.
“It’s a really good start and builds us a foundation for the rest of the season,” Baumeler said.
“During the week we said 1-0 was good reward for effort, all the work we’ve done over summer, and that good teams back it up.
“We are striving to be a good team and we were able to back it up. Now we’re 2-0 and our minds will shift pretty quickly to the big challenge of Launny next week.”
Clarence showed enough to indicate it can challenge for a top four spot but the Roos ran out of bounce late in their first game of the season, having had the bye in round one.
Ryan also has an injury concern with Rainbird hobbling off late with an injured left knee, putting him in doubt for next week’s match against North Launceston at UTas Stadium.
Covid grips TSL as virus claims two of the league’s biggest players
COVID continues sweeping through State League clubs as the virus now claims two of the biggest names in the State League with reigning premier Launceston losing captain Jobi Harper and former Geelong and Sydney player Jackson Thurlow for its home game against Glenorchy on Saturday.
TSL clubs are battling the virus in their playing groups, with some clubs unable to finalise their teams until hours before games.
Launceston coach Mitch Thorp said his club was treating the loss of Harper and Thurlow to Covid as “one week injuries” and revealed premiership players Joe Groenewegen, Jake Smith and Brendan Taylor “were in the same boat”.
The Magpies regained their captain Josh Arnold after he missed the season-opened with Covid.
Meanwhile, Lauderdale is happy to be “gifted” a home game against powerhouse North Launceston at Lauderdale Oval on Saturday in exchange for an AFL curtain-raiser against the Northern Bombers at the Hawthorn-Brisbane match at UTas Stadium on May 22.
The southern Bombers will go into their second round stoush bolstered by the return of former Geelong premiership player Allen Christensen and the debut of former WAFL player Jayden Magro after a first-round loss to the Tigers.
It is a mountain to climb for a side hammered by North Launceston in the equivalent game last season.
“I’ve watched the North Launceston game from last week four times now trying to get a gauge on them because there has been so much change on their list,” said Lauderdale coach Dan Willing.
“There are some players I either didn’t know, or didn’t know a lot about, and the thing I noticed was that their system hasn’t changed.
“They all buy into the plan, they are extremely well-coached and their midfield is still experienced, so while their personnel has changed their system hasn’t.”
Back-to-back home games was unexpected when Willing planned his season but the trade-off is worth it.
“It’s great for the competition and we’re happy to swap games,” he said.
“We get the opportunity to play before an AFL game in eight or nine weeks and that’s fanatic for Tasmanian football and great for our footy club to be able to showcase our club in front of a big audience.”
North Launceston’s 110-point win over Glenorchy was a show-reel for the Bombers’ stars, with coach Brad Cox-Goodyer damaging in his cameo role at half-back, and onballers Michael Stingel (34 possessions) and Ben Simpson (41 possessions) playing lead roles.
“We’ve changed our system in the way we play, so we will back our system against them early in the game and have some backup plans in place in case their guys get off the chain,” Willing said.
“We can’t just concentrate on Brad. He’s been an elite player for a long time and their midfield had big numbers last week so we are going to have to be on our game through the middle of the ground.
“Our guys got beaten in that part of the game last week. They are a proud bunch and I would expect guys like Sam Siggins, Nat Franklin, Bryce Walsh and Dylan Fyfe to bounce back, with Christensen coming into that group.”
Covid crisis grips TSL as league enters round two
Covid has gripped the State League after one week of games with each club having enough players sidelined to make up a whole football team approaching round two on Saturday.
Clarence has six players under a Covid cloud across its seniors and Development League teams leading into its season opener against the Tigers North Hobart Oval on Saturday.
Glenorchy lost its skipper Josh Arnold for its season-opener against North Launceston last weekend and while he is back this week the Pies will not know their senior and Development team line-ups until game day.
North Launceston coach Brad Cox-Goodyer had Covid leading into the season and the Northern Bombers’ opposition this week, Lauderdale, has its own Covid concerns.
“Covid has affected our club over the past couple of weeks, but it is what it is. Every club is going to cop it at some stage during the year,” said Lauderdale coach Dan Willing.
“We’ve got a few more this week. We’ve got a few in isolation at the moment and they are due to get out on Friday and Saturday but they may not all play.
“It will depend on how they are feeling and what their symptoms are. If they are symptom-free they may play and if they are not they won’t. We are not going to risk them.
“Who they are is something we are not going to give up right now, but there’s a handful in that position and it’s not only senior players.”
The Tigers have also had their Covid conundrums but coach Trent Baumeler commended his group of its approach.
“We can’t stop these guys from living their lives,” Baumeler said.
“They are young men and Saturday night is just as important as Saturday afternoon.
“We ask them to minimise the risk and understand their obligation is to footy. But when you’ve got to let your hair down and live your life, you’re entitled to do that.
“They work very hard during the week in terms of their employment and we ask a lot of them in terms of their hours at the footy club, so you can’t put restrictions on them. We just ask them to be smart.
“Any team will show that if you have your best 22 on the park every week you can get some good results this year and I think that’s going to be the difference _ the team that can minimise that risk and get most of their players out there most weeks is going to get the results.”
Lauderdale’s playing group had also set itself high standards on and off the field.
“They are going to go out and enjoy themselves and unfortunately in the current landscape they are going to get Covid,” Willing said.
“We’ve got to live with that. Hopefully we will get through it in the early months and after that it won’t affect us as much.”
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