Tigers take down the Wolf Pack under lights

Heading to Richmond on a Friday night was quite weird after another bye, and with this being only our second night game of the season and with the Power playing the Cats I wasn’t sure what sort of crowd would attend. But I was quite pleased with the number of loyal SANFL Glenelg fans that turned up in the cold conditions to watch us play.

It had been 16 rounds since we last played West and after a very disappointing performance by them a few weeks ago we knew they would be quite competitive. Losing Luke Partington meant we could make a few changes and have a look at a few things heading into the finals but we were keen to make our mark on the game early. Unfortunately we didn’t reward ourselves with scoreboard pressure but I felt like we had control of the game and the ball.

The second quarter saw Lachie Hosie kick his first goal since round 7 against the Panthers but once again we weren’t able to capitalise on our midfield dominance and inside 50 entries. However, we still managed to kick four goals to take a 27-point lead into half time. Matt Allen, Matt Snook and Andrew Bradley were all influential and getting their hands on the ball for us and providing some good inside 50 entries.

The half time discussion revolved around ensuring we played a four quarter game. We started the third quarter well and with a number of different players hitting the scoreboard to open up a 31-point margin. For the first 15 minutes of the last quarter I was very pleased with the way we moved the ball and finished off our work inside 50. However for the last 15 minutes we didn’t execute some of the fundamentals of the game, which hurt us on transition, and West were able to capitalise on a few mistakes.

Brett Turner was the standout mid for the game, collecting 35 disposals and 7 clearances along with 12 tackles. Andrew Bradley and Dylan Landt were quite important with their ball use and Matt Snook had his usual industrious game. It was good to see Darcy Bailey rewarded for his hard work with three goals, as well as Agnew, Reynolds, Hosie kicking two goals.

We now go into our last minor round game against a very strong Port Magpies team with about 16 listed players, which will give us a great test leading into finals. We look forward to seeing the Tiger army down at Alberton Oval on Saturday afternoon at 2:10pm.

– Brett Hand, Senior Coach

Goal kickers: D. Bailey (3), B. Agnew (2), L. Hosie (2). L. Reynolds (2), A. Bradley, J. Hannath, D. Landt, T. Pink, M. Snook, B. Turner