Lauderdale secure elimination final win over Kingborough

The TSL will have a fresh premier in 2024 following a tight and thrilling elimination final result on Saturday.

Zach Adams flies for a mark during the TSL Elimination Final. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

Lauderdale have ended Kingborough’s premiership defence with a thrilling seven-point win in Saturday’s TSL elimination final at SkyBus Oval.

In a contest fitting of the stakes at play, it was the Bombers three-goal third-quarter that proved the difference in the 8.14 (62) to 8.7 (55) victory.

Trailing by five points at the long-break, a trio of majors to Andrew Phillips, Thor Boscott and Nat Franklin in the third-quarter gave the home side a 12-point buffer at the final change.

Neither side could hit the scoreboard in a convincing fashion in the last term’s opening 15 minutes before a Colin Skeen snap from 50 meters ended the drought and brought the margin back to a solitary major.

But time was on the side of the Bombers with the home side holding on to claim a famous state league finals victory – their first on home soil.

Lauderdale coach Allen Christensen was proud of his group’s ability to grind out a win against what’s been the benchmark side across the last two seasons but admitted their inaccuracy inside 50 was still a concern.

Allen Christensen praised his side’s performance post-match but admitted they needed to be better inside 50. Picture: Nikki Davis-Jones

“We played against a team today who knows how to do perform in finals, and we knew we had to match them,” he said.

“We knew coming into the game they wouldn’t have been stoked with their clearance work last week and their contest stuff, so our ability to just stay with them (was great), because they’ve just got such good players in there, and I was really proud of the boys for hanging around and getting the job done.

“22 shots on goal and 15 behinds is a bit of an issue, so we’ll keep working on that, but we did enough today.”

Defenders Josh McGuinness, Tyler Martin and Taine Sookee were terrific behind the ball with the Tigers tall forwards booting just one major between them.

“Our whole backline today (was terrific),” Christensen said.

“Some of their efforts might be hard to see but when we review it they will get a real sense of how well they played. They put their bodies on the line on a few occasions and structured up really well.”

For the Tigers, skipper Lachie Clifford continued to find the footy all day while Kieran Lovell was lively despite Tom Ratcliffe once again producing a solid tagging job on the star midfielder.

Lauderdale will now face the loser of Sunday’s qualifying final clash between North Launceston and Clarence.

Sunday’s winner will advance directly through to the grand final.