Tigers take the win at Alberton

As we head into the final stages of the home and away season, the main focus is to keep winning games of football. While we were able to do this on Saturday, there is some frustration with how the game played out and how we went about it both offensively and defensively. Full credit to Port Adelaide, who certainly pushed us right until the final siren and showed they are a huge player in the finals race over the next few weeks of football.

We were pleased with how we started the game, and we felt like we were able to get our hands on the ball and give ourselves several scoring opportunities. Being unable to make the most of them can always come back to hurt us against good teams. For much of the first half this is how the game played out, with us being wasteful and sloppy with the ball and certainly lacking the intent to defend the ground in a way we have look to build our game around. It certainly wasn’t a brand of football for the highlight reel, for while we were still in front in the game, we had left ourselves with plenty of work to do.

As a group we had some strong conversations around what our attitude for the contest had looked like up until that point. Pleasingly, the start of the third quarter resembled a little bit more of what we expect of each other. Unfortunately, we were not able to sustain it, and with the opposition completely up for the contest we found ourselves in a real fight to maintain our advantage. Similarly, the last quarter played out much the same. Some real intent and urgency allowed us to get out to a 19-point lead, but our inability to maintain allowed them to keep chipping away and keep the contest close. One of the big positives was our ability to close the game down in the last 6-7 minutes with some maturity and composure with our method. We take the two points and look to go about improving again this week.

Our Reserves group continued their way with a convincing win against West Adelaide, a victory which means they are going to finish the home and away season on top of the ladder. While it was a little slippery over the day, there was a lot to like in how the group went about their work both with and without the ball. While we have spoken about the talent that exists in the group, the way they continue to play a team-orientated brand is really pleasing to the coaching group. There are certainly a number that are banging on the door and applying plenty of pressure on the players above – a healthy position for us to be in as a club.

For our Round 17 clash, we head across to Woodville to take on the Eagles. We look forward to seeing all our supporters heading out to cheer us on as we look to keep building.

– Darren Reeves, Senior Coach

Goal kickers: Luke Reynolds (2), Lachie Hosie (2), Matt Allen, Cole Gerloff, Corey Lyons, Liam McBean, Luke Partington

Best Players: Toby Pink, Corey Lyons, Matt Allen, Luke Reynolds, Lachie Hosie, Cole Gerloff