A slow start, yet Tigers triumph in Round 13

Round 13 and the start of a 4-week block of matches through July, of which will go a long way to setting up where we are wanting to be to attack the last part of the season. The first assignment was against Woodville West Torrens who have been the number 1 scoring team over the first 12 rounds of the season, providing another really strong test for our group. What shaped to be a high scoring game with us being number 2 for scoring on the season instead turned out to be a brutal battle around the contest as well as both teams ability to scramble defensively didn’t provide the free flowing scoring but certainly an entertaining game of football.

Another slow start for us again allowing the opposition to jump out to challenging leads had us on the back foot right from the start. Some credit to the opposition who were sharp and efficient early but there is also a lot on how we are going about our work in all areas at the start of games. We were reactive and second to the ball a lot, allowed their midfield to get forward of the ball too often and we quickly found ourselves 4 goals behind in the game. We were able to change the momentum through the late stages of the first quarter which we were able to take into the second quarter and get the game back on our terms to a degree. With much better energy around contest in the second quarter, a lot of time spent in our forward half with repeat forward 50 entries, and some really strong pressure, we were able to get some reward on the score board and get to half time with a slight lead and some confidence back in the game.

Another slow start to the third quarter allowing WWT get out to a 3-goal lead certainly wasn’t ideal but much like the first quarter we were slowly able to regain the momentum in the game and chip away on the score board and have some strong momentum into the last quarter with a strong breeze in our favour. Our last quarter was really strong and while we didn’t finish our work as efficiently as we would have liked, we were able to play the game in our forward half and finish off with a really solid and important win. What was pleasing was how we defended over the game, and as with our last encounter with WWT a few weeks back we have been able to keep a high scoring team well down on what they had done over the season. We are still a bit clunky offensively no doubt, but we are confident with what we are seeing in our training that we will continue to see improvement as we move along in the season.

Another really strong 4 quarter performance from our Reserves group in all areas of the game, with a mixture of some of our more senior players and some of our young players combining and playing a strong brand of football. As mentioned above the training standards of our entire group session after session week after week is translating into consistent performance especially amongst this group. It is exciting to see for both the now and most definitely for the future. Well done to the group and we look forward to that continuing on.

With the SANFL draw a little bit all over the place we head into another 6 day turn around and into a Round 14 clash with Port Adelaide at Alberton Oval next Saturday afternoon. After a great turn out for a Sunday afternoon in this game we look forward to seeing all of our supporters there on Saturday. It shapes as another exciting game and another really important one as we head through July.

Go The Bays

– Darren Reeves, Senior Coach

Goals: Reynolds (3), McBean (2), Stagg (2), Allen, Gerloff

Best Players: Bell, Reynolds, Martini, McBean, McGree, Proud