Tigers blitz the Eagles at home

After a 17-day break between games, it was great to get back into game mode for our round 3 clash against the Eagles at Stratarama Stadium on Anzac Day eve. Great weather and a fantastic crowd allowed for some free-flowing football to take place, and in the end a solid 48-point victory to cap of a great night against a strong football club.

With the extended break between games, it allowed us to put some strong planning in place and prepare accordingly leading into the game. Really pleasing for most of the night was our ability to execute as we had hoped and to play the game on our terms, which is a great credit to our playing group for the way they went about it for long periods of the game. We understand we have a lot of work to do in most areas but there are again some positives in our method.

On the night, like the previous round, we were able to have some dominance in field position, with 60 inside 50s. Our growth in how we are defending from turnover, and especially defending in the forward half of the ground, has been strong over the last couple of weeks. These are really important areas of growth for us as a club to be able to play forward half football for long periods. We are hoping this will see us maintain pressure on the scoreboard on a consistent basis.

Another highlight, especially in the second half, was some of our ball movement by foot. Again, this is an important part of who we want to be and it’s pleasing to see some of our training showing through in games.

Our reserves group chalked up their third win in a row to start the season. They continue to play an exciting brand, with several guys playing exciting football and putting pressure on above, and that is a great place for us to be in at this point. A strong aspect of all three games has been their ability to respond when they have been challenged. There is a lot to like in the football the group is playing.

A short turn around now for us with an opportunity to play against reigning premiers Norwood back at Stratarama Stadium this Sunday afternoon. We hope to see all our supporters there again as we look to continue some of the positive improvement that we have seen over the last few weeks.

– Darren Reeves, Senior Coach

GOAL KICKERS: L. Hosie (5), L Reynolds (3), M. Allen, J. Bell, R. Holder, C. Lyons, L. McBean, C. McGree, B. Stretch

BEST PLAYERS: 1. Max Proud, 2. Lachie Hosie, 3. Luke Partington, 4. Toby Pink, 5. Mathew Snook, 6. Luke Reynolds