Tigers book a double date at the Grand Final

While we couldn’t have been more pleased with our preparation over the past two weeks, what is certain when you get to these moments in the season is that we’re playing against very good football teams that are chasing the same goal, and to get where we want to be was never going to be easy. That was the case, and full credit to the Adelaide Crows who were excellent in the first half and had us on the back foot for the majority. Pleasingly though, we worked our way through it and now we can learn and improve, ready for what is ahead in two week’s time.

The first half was played at a frantic pace, with end-to-end ball movement and not a lot of time to settle into any form of rhythm and method. We were certainly under pressure at times and looked like we could let the game slip away, but fortunately we were able to capitalise on our limited forward opportunities and keep ourselves in touch through both the first and second quarters. We certainly felt we were a little fortunate to be level at the half time break. Adelaide were very good around contest and able to get plenty of run and clean ball from their halfback line right throughout the half. We were aware of this leading into the game and we just needed to get back to what we know works. The half time break provided us with the opportunity to have a look at some vision and just reset. To the players credit we were able to do that well.

Our third quarter was as good a quarter of football that we played for the year. There wasn’t anything fancy, just relentless pressure both around the contest and inside our forward 50. With this being the case, we were able to keep getting the ball deep into our forward line, and while it didn’t lead to scoreboard reward right away, the longer we stuck at it the more opportunities came our way. 19-4 inside 50 count, together with 15 stoppages in our forward 50 area, showed how locked in our guys were. Big games are won based on doing the small things well over and over, and that certainly summed up our third quarter.

While the game opened a little bit more in the last quarter, there were still strong elements of what we had done in the previous quarter throughout. We have openly stated all season that we don’t want to be known as just a talented team, but as a tough four quarter team week after week, and that was the case in this game.

As always, our supporters were present across the whole weekend in great numbers and voice. We have the best supporter base in the SANFL and we look forward to seeing Adelaide Oval as full as possible with black and yellow in two week’s time.

Go the Bays!!!

– Darren Reeves, Senior Coach

Goal kickers: Lachie Hosie (3), Liam McBean (3), Matt Allen (2), Luke Reynolds (2), Brett Turner (2), James Bell, Archie Lovelock, Luke Partington, Matth Snook

Best Players: Matthew Snook, Liam McBean, James Bell, Jonty Scharenberg, Max Proud, Brett Turner

Our Reserves team toughed out a strong win in their Semi Final against Sturt on Saturday to also head straight into the Grand Final.

A slow start, and Sturt playing a strong brand for two and a half quarters, had our guys in a little bit of trouble. Like the League team, we were able to lift our energy and intent around contest, get the ball into deeper scoring areas and play the game in our forward half of the ground for most of the second half of the game.

What had looked like a tough assignment turned into a solid win. We will be able to take some good learnings away from this game also in our preparation over the next two weeks. Again, there were several outstanding contributors that continue to play at a high level week after week. Great job to all.

Goal kickers: Nick Leck (3), Mackinley Miller (2), Hunter Window (2), Jared Deep, Austin Kitschke, Reid Kuller, Nathaniel Paredes