Clarence into the TSL preliminary final after surviving brutal semi-final against Tigers
North Launceston will feature in its eighth consecutive TSL grand final after stunning Launceston, but nearly a third of the side will be playing in their first decider.
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NORTH Launceston will have upwards of half a dozen players experiencing their first TSL grand final and Saturday’s upset of Launceston will only fuel belief a premiership is within reach.
The Bombers stunned cross-town rivals and minor premiers Launceston by nine points, handing the Blues their first defeat at Windsor Park this season and booking direct passage to the grand final.
Incredibly, it will be the club’s eighth consecutive trip to the big dance, with a new-look group on the cusp of adding to the flags won in 2014-15 and the three-peat from 2017-19.
“There is still some things we need to get right … but we are confident against whoever we play, I think we showed that on the weekend,” coach Brad Cox-Goodyer said.
“It just gives the guys belief.
“Eight grand finals in a row is something pretty historic, especially at State League level, and it’s something I haven’t thought about considering we have such a new group and a lot of guys are going to play in their first grand final, which is super exciting.
“We’ll have over half a dozen I think.”
While the Bombers have earned a week off, Launceston will go back into battle against Clarence in this weekend’s preliminary final.
The extra week looks set to have added benefit for North, who lost defensive pair Ben Simpson (concussion) and Fletcher Bennett (knee/head knock) early in the second quarter.
Cox-Goodyer said the duo were “a bit sore” but was confident the break would give them enough time to recover — and praised Bennett’s selflessness to put his body on the line, which arguably helped the side grind its way back after trailing by 20 points at the first break.
“Obviously we lost two soldiers pretty early on in the game and they started particularly well.
“We were up against it all day and to continually grind it out and run over the top of them gives us massive belief moving forward.
“Fletcher went back with the flight of the ball, he didn’t have to do that but he did and it can kind of galvanise your group.
“You get a bit of a chip on your shoulder when those things happen, and you kind of go up a cog.”
ROOS SURVIVE BRUISING BATTLE WITH TIGERS
CLARENCE survived and thrived in a physically-brutal TSL semi-final against the Tigers at Blundstone Arena on Sunday to be the last southern club standing in the race for the 2021 premiership.
The Roos won their hard-fought semi over the courageous Tigers 8.12 (60) to 5.9 (39) and advanced to face defending champion Launceston in the preliminary final in Launceston next Sunday.
Roos coach Jeromey Webberley expects the Blues to breathe fire in the match after they lost to cross-town rival North Launceston in their semi on Saturday.
“They get an eight-day break and we get a seven-day break, but that’s no big deal. It doesn’t worry us we’ll be ready for anything,” Webberley said.
It was Clarence’s first win in a final since Webberley returned from AFL club Richmond, making it a milestone moment for the club.
“They’ve had our measure this year. They won twice out of three games,” Webberley said.
“Over the past two or three years we’ve only won two or three games against them, so they are probably something like 9-3 against us.
“It’s good to tick off a win against them in a final.
“We haven’t won a final at this club since 2013 – we’ve had five or six goes at it and we haven’t got the chocolates.
“So it’s a nice little box to tick, but the reality is the game is done now and we need to recover well and move on to Launceston next week.”
Like the last time they met in the now infamous siren-gate clash won by Tigers four weeks ago, Clarence got off to a fast start, kicking two goals in the first term and keeping the visitors goalless.
The Tigers hunted them down, onballer Will Campbell opening their account eight minutes into the second and another by Jackson Keogh had them within five at half-time.
Clarence’s 4.5 to 2.1 third term did the damage, and Roos spearhead Colin Garland could have put them further ahead if not for his wayward 2.4.
The match was a treat for footy fans – sometimes it was fast, other times it was hand-to-hand combat, and the physical hits and bear-trap tackles won’t soon be forgotten by players on either team.
The battle between Roos ruckman Noah Holmes and hulking Tiger Marcus Gardner was worth the price of admission alone.
Roos James Holmes and Oscar Paprotny were assigned to stop Tigers dangerman Luke Graham – the man who kicked the goal on the siren to sink them last time – while Jack Preshaw wore Tiger ball-magnet Eddie Cole like a glove, and the herculean efforts of Tiger Marcus Davies burning the candle at both ends of Blundstone.
“Every time you play the Tigers it’s a combative game,” Webberley said.
“Full credit to the Tigers, they played a solid, brutal game.”
FULL STATS:
Clarence 2.3, 3.4, 7.9, 8.12 (60)
Tigers 0.1, 2.5, 4.7, 5.9 (39)
GOALS – Clarence: B. Alomes 2, C. Garland 2, H. Burgess 1, B. Smith 1, S. Green 1, K. Howlett 1; Tigers: W. Campbell 2, E. Reardon 1, J. Keogh 1, S. Duigan 1,
BEST – Clarence: Z. Buechner, B. Norton, N. Holmes, J. Harper, B. Alomes, K. Howlett; Tigers: L. Clifford, W. Campbell, M. Davies, B. McCulloch, P. Reihana, R. Ashlin.
UNDERMANNED BOMBERS BREAK DOWN BLUES FORTRESS
BRAD Cox-Goodyer is a five time TSL premiership star but the North Launceston playing coach has labelled the stunning semi-final upset against Launceston as one of the club’s best victories during his tenure.
No side had been able to get within 48 points of the Blues at Windsor Park in 2021, with the home side’s average winning margin in nine games an incredible 93 points.
But despite trailing by 20 points at quarter time and down two men early in the second term, the Bombers produced a comeback for the ages to stun the hosts 10.8 (68) to 8.11 (59) to move directly into the grand final.
A three-goal burst to Jake Hinds (four for the match) in the first stanza helped the Blues bolt from the blocks, and although Ben Simpson (concussion) and Fletcher Bennett (knee and a head knock) were out of action, the visitors rallied by slowing down the speed of the game to chip away at the margin.
An 11-point deficit had been cut to five by the last change and when Brandon Leary somehow found some space to snap a goal three minutes into the last quarter, the Bombers had grabbed the lead for the first time in the contest.
Nathan Pearce (three goals) iced the result deep into time on, handing North a famous win against its arch rivals.
“I’m just so proud of this group, the adversity, even today, with obviously losing two players pretty early on in the game and we were obviously struggling in the first quarter,” Cox-Goodyer said.
“They brought it to us and we couldn’t really get going. But to continually grind it out with two men down, playing over here and it’s been spoken about the winning margin here.
“I’ve been a part of many great wins at this football club and this one is right up there.
“This is a famous win for our football club.”
Cox-Goodyer added two goals alongside Leary, and Alex Lee’s massive work in the ruck – North won the hit-out count 49-35 and clearances 40-31 – proved crucial.
Launceston dominated inside 50s in their first-term onslaught (14-6) but by the final siren North Launceston edged the hosts 40-39.
UNDERDOG TAG MAKES BOMBERS SCARY PROPOSITION
THE underdog tag in TSL finals is something North Launceston’s playing group has been unaccustomed to for several years — making the Bombers a scary prospect according to coach Brad Cox-Goodyer.
North will head to Windsor Park for Saturday’s TSL semi-final determined to match fire with fire against Launceston, the side which dethroned the Bombers as State League kings last year.
There is no love lost between the cross town rivals and the Blues will start as overwhelming favourites at a venue they are unconquered on in 2021 and boast a staggering average winning margin of nearly 16 goals.
However Cox-Goodyer will unleash his young guns and instruct them to not hold back.
“I did see their average winning margin was about 95 points over there, when you look at it like that we’ve got no chance,” Cox-Goodyer said.
“But we go with no expectations, which is great and probably the first time we have gone into a final in a couple of years not expected to win.
“We have no pressure on our backs and that’s a pretty dangerous place to be going into finals.
“I will give my guys a full licence to go out there and play attacking football and take it right up to them, if we go up there and try and play safe in any part of the game they will just wear you down in the end.
“The message will be to just go out and play as attacking as possible.”
The Bombers did topple the Blues in round eight, but in their only meeting at Windsor Park in round 15 the hosts dished out a 53-point thrashing.
Cox-Goodyer declared the last result would hold no scars, with a vastly different 22 to take the field this weekend.
“We have some pretty big changes to our team from last time, we didn’t have our two vice-captains in Mark Walsh and Ben Simpson playing, two very important cogs to our midfield which is where it is won and lost in finals.
“The Sanders brothers [Ryley and Oliver] didn’t play last time as well, four pretty important players and we also lost Alex [Lee] pretty early in the game and we were in front when that happened.
“You can look at that point of time in the game and that’s where it shifted. They took full advantage of us not having a genuine ruckman and they had three on the day.”
Cox-Goodyer also has no complaints about the playing surface, which saw a helicopter ordered in from the West Tamar Council on Wednesday to help dry the ground.
“We have a chance to make a grand final, if we are worrying too much about the surface we’re probably not in the right headspace.”
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