Blackberry banned for striking and two Roos reported for umpire abuse
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REIGNING premier Launceston will be without the TSL’s most experienced player for its clash with Clarence at Blundstone Arena on Saturday while two Roos were ordered to front the tribunal for allegedly abusing the umpires.
TSL games record holder Jay Blackberry copped a two-match suspension for “engaging in rough conduct” with his tackle on Glenorchy’s Nathan Blowfield at Windsor Park on Saturday but had it reduced to one with an early guilty plea.
Blackberry’s action was deemed as “intentional conduct, with low impact and high contact”.
At Blundstone, the TSL’s “siren-gate” had another twist.
After the Tigers scored a goal on the final siren to snatch a thrilling victory, Clarence players Josh Green and Jacques Barwick were reported for allegedly “using abusive language towards the umpires”.
The MRP graded the action as a “Direct Tribunal Offence” under “Behaving in an abusive, insulting, threatening or obscene manner towards or in relation to an umpire”.
Green and Barwick are required to attend tribunal on Tuesday night.
Teammate Oscar Paprotny got one match reduced to a reprimand for “unnecessary contact” to Tiger Elijah Reardon.
At Lauderdale, Bomber Nicholas Raglione copped two matches reduced to one with an early guilty plea for striking Demon Bradley Young.
Tough Tiger closing in on first senior final
AFTER making a complete mess of his leg in a farm accident three years ago which wiped out his entire 2019 TSL season, Will Campbell is itching for his first crack at finals football.
And the Tigers enforcer has declared the side has the belief it can come from the clouds with a fairytale finals run.
The Tigers bounced back from consecutive defeats in emphatic fashion last weekend, blowing Glenorchy off the Twin Ovals with a 90-point victory.
It was the club’s second biggest winning margin in history behind only the 109-point hiding it handed North Hobart in round eight, while the 23.9 it piled on against the Pies was its highest ever score.
Leading the charge was Campbell, who gathered nearly 30 touches and kicked four goals as part of a new look forward structure in the absence of injured key pillars Tyler Carter and Cooper Sawdy.
Back to his best after suffering a horrific off field injury in late 2018 — where he broke his leg as well as rupturing his ACL, PCL, MCL and meniscus — Campbell and the Tigers are aiming high having locked themselves into a second finals series.
“At the start of the year a lot of people would’ve said we probably would’ve been battling out for the spoon with the amount of talent we lost,” Campbell said.
“But it just comes down to the guys that are there and their attitude to wanting to get better.
“We have a lot of guys fighting for spots and a lot of guys proving to themselves they are good enough to be at the top level.
“It’s a pretty special group at the moment, it is the tightest group I’ve ever played with, definitely the way we play for each other.
“Full credit to Launnie and North Launnie, they are very good sides and we are under no illusions it is going to be tough but we believe if we play our best we can beat anyone.
“We won’t be there making up the numbers.”
The Tigers face Clarence in a mouth-watering clash at Blundstone Arena on Saturday, where a victory will keep them in the hunt of a home final.
Meanwhile, Launceston star Jake Hinds has reclaimed the lead in the player of the year award after a best afield effort against North Hobart.
Hinds, who set the pace in the opening month of the season, took top spot from teammate Jay Blackberry.
PLAYER OF THE YEAR VOTES ROUND 18
Launceston v North Hobart
3 Jake Hinds (L)
2 Fletcher Seymour (L)
1 Alec Wright (L)
North Launceston v Lauderdale
3 Brad Cox-Goodyer (NL)
2 Jack Avent (NL)
1 Josh McGuinness (L)
Tigers v Glenorchy
3 Will Campbell (T)
2 Max Collidge (T)
1 Lachlan Clifford (T)
LEADERBOARD
20 Jake Hinds (Laun)
19 Jay Blackberry (Laun)
18 Jay Foon (NL)
14 Brad Cox-Goodyer (NL)
9 Dylan Riley (Laun), Michael Stingel (NL)
Tigers run rampant against cold Pies
WHEN Cooper Sawdy joined No. 1 spearhead Tyler Carter on the sidelines earlier this month, there was a sense the Tigers may struggle to impact the scoreboard to be a meaningful player in the TSL finals.
That only magnified last weekend when Lauderdale upstaged the Tigers to hand the side consecutive defeats.
Seven days later and any questions about the forward line potency at coach Trent Baumeler’s disposal was put to rest with a blistering performance against Glenorchy.
The Tigers rammed home 23.9 (147) to 8.9 (57) to smash the hapless Pies at the Twin Ovals, proving they have several tricks in the bag to ensure they can be a genuine premiership smokey.
The 90-point margin was only just shy of the club record 109-point defeat of North Hobart in May — the day Carter’s season ended with a gruesome dislocated ankle.
Sawdy (broken jaw) went down during the tight loss to ladder leader Launceston three weeks ago, but a reshuffled, multi-pronged attack cut Glenorchy’s defence to shreds.
Midfield bull Will Campbell spent more time forward to cap a best afield day with four goals, Max Collidge chimed in with four of his own while Luke Graham and Sam Duigan both booted three.
All of Duigan’s came in the last term when it appeared the Pies had flown the white flag, as the hosts rattled on seven straight majors in what at times looked like a training drill.
The Tigers, who kicked 13 goals from marks inside 50m, had put the contest to bed by halftime, where a run of six unanswered goals into the main break saw them open up a 45-point buffer.
“For where we are at we just wanted a really strong performance, to get back on the winner’s list, that was pretty complete across the whole four quarters,” Baumeler said.
“We spoke at halftime, we did have the game sort of in hand and there were some more important things to play for as well.
“We want to keep good momentum going, bits and pieces like percentage as well, which could come into play in a few weeks time, so to be able to play the game out was extremely important.”
While he would much prefer having Sawdy and Carter roaming deep forward, Baumeler is confident the rejigged attack can cause headaches for the opposition.
“When Tyler got injured everyone thought we might struggle and then Cooper goes down, whoever we threw forward today, their ability to stand up and put scoreboard [pressure] on was great.
“Luke Graham is the mainstay of that sort of set up, Max Collidge has been there all year and Riley Ashlin as well.
“We’re finding some other guys to go through there.
“Will Campbell’s a pretty tough matchup, he’s got good speed and he’s very good overhead and he finished his work today.
“To have those options … I hope there’s a bit of unpredictability there which makes life tough when you’re planning against us, which is good.”
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