Our Take
Kick off was on again off
again as presumably the VFL hesitated to play on the Cooke – Murphy surface. It
was OK, better than in the past and probably preferable to the sponginess of
the Southport surface. Point is those VFL boys are a little precious given the
QAFL is their tier equivalent and the ground was seen fit for the Cats Tiger
clash, as it should have been.
We kicked to the car park
end in warm but good conditions. The wind was to freshen and become a difficult
cross breeze later in the game. The Tigers came to play and Featherstone
featured in a set play that put 6 points on the board for them within a minute
of the opening bounce. Spida and
Notting were up front and Knobel was in the ruck. Smithy retained Tom Nicholls
on the bench to take on Spida in his rotation.
We continued to look
sluggish while Labrador looked sharp feeding their talls and putting Quickie and Co under extreme
pressure. Eventually our blokes’ body clocks caught up with the action and the
usual suspects started getting the nut. Tinka, Searly, Fifey, and Squiz
negotiated traffic to provide opportunities but we were continually denied or
hassled into hurried shots on goal.
The first of a rugby
league player’s greatest fear, and a feature of aussie rules – a blind side collision – by Rhino
Dienjes, demonstrated to the mature age Tiges that we were committed to the
ball. Regrettably Rhino was penalised. it was to occur again later in the
second stanza, and while we do not have the benefit of video, on the shaky
assumption we are not biased at all, the real time collisions appeared to us to
be manful stuff by both combatants. The second of Rhino’s opponents took
himself straight off, and Al Presley has offered Rhino a job as a smash wall,
testing the sub structure of his used vehicles. Good stuff.
Meanwhile JD repelled
twice and was showing metal dropping in the gap in front of Spida. SOD stood
the test of a hospital pass across the back line and when the ball hit the deck
we looked better than the tiges. Lower trajectory foot passing became the order
of the day and we commenced to peg back the Tiger’s better start. Mossy
provided the assist coming off the square that found Fults who snapped truly. It
was one of very few stoppage clearances we were to win that quarter although we
were matching inside fifties 11 to 10.
We couldn’t buy a goal. We
missed switch opportunities and found ourselves in heavy traffic, and while we
handled that OK, it was not necessary and made goals harder to come by. Stewie,
looking very much the Kossy type, laid a great off ball tackle that may have
incited some Tigers into delayed action in the second quarter. Brewer was doing
Ok on Notting but his class showed out and he looked dangerous as Mitch was
hampered by a corkie. Nicholls was matching Spida and Nick O’Hare, Wilko,
Tinka, Pants and Rhino worked hard. A couple of posters and a Mossy snap, which
he would normally put through, didn’t help the scoreboard. Nine scoring shots
to 6, and, we daresay a few OBs for a disappointing return.
Broadie 1 8 to Labrador 3 3
Quickie took on Knobel and
Mitch continued on Notting. Again we worked over time for opportunities but
frustratingly an opponent switch was converted in double quick time. Quickie,
Squiz and Fifey combined to Fults who was freed but shanked the shot. Searly to
Flanagan who was working himself into the game, to Ironman O’Hare resulted in
yet another minor score. The hard stuff was still in vogue – no real spite,
just good hard stuff – when Hales put a really good one on in a head-on
meeting. Again his opponent made the wise decision to remove himself from the
fray. The usual argy bargy followed and Princess Rolfe came out the winner and
dobbed one that swirled with the wind and was never going to make it, but it
did. Fair dinkum he is always in the midst and putting his head over the
sherrin and deserves more than he gets. Maybe small forward is the go where the sometimes haphazard disposal would have an inherent target.
Quickie was taking ‘em on
down back and beat Spida and two others for pace and brains, one of them
elected to bring Quickie down with a trip. We believe there was a booking.
Pants and Princess started
to rack up possessions, and JD was strong in the packs and throw in stoppages
as the third man up. Flanagan was demonstrating what a joy he is to coach by
taking every opportunity to run and carry and/or switch the play. It appears
Piers is set for a senior career.
Notting again showed he
has that something and was on the end of some good footy, particularly by
Featherstone, and the Tiges pulled ahead.
A crook call by the
referee on Nicholls resulted in a goal to Spida and the score board was
beginning to look ugly. Spida ran down Wilko in slow mo from behind in the
circus act of the day but the resultant 50m did nothing for us. Pants missed a
sitter and then came the Rhino hit. That sparked a few discussions among
players and when Knobel appeared to stress his point with a Liverpool kiss on
Stewie he was immediately dragged. Wonder what the video will suggest? Outcome
was a goal for us by, well we reckon it was Mossy, but the website suggests
Tinka. Take your pick, one of ‘em will tell us soon enough. We were five down
at the half time break but one had the feeling it was still game on, especially
if we could find some accuracy.
Broadie 3 9 to Labrador 8 9
The third stanza was ours.
JD started the ball rolling from the bounce to feed off to Fifey and onto
Ironman who notched his third(?) behind. Then we had a sparkling 5 minutes or
so interrupted only by a Notting goal. It was different to the rest of the game
to that point, a bit like seeing Gary Abblet jnr with hair. Stewie to Macca to
Princess resulted in a Fults mark. He inadvertently passed it off to JD for a
point. Then Princess went through the packs, twice, to record his second, to be
followed by 2 clearances to JD the latter finding Princess who calmly snapped
his third. Honestly, as his Grandma says, you could eat him bit by bit by
spoon.
Fults missed a long one,
we think he finished with 3g 4b for the day, and Cookie followed suit after
some good work by Flanagan, Stewie and Mossy. Pants displayed some fine
aerobatics while Searly and Quickie were involved in fine defensive work. One
surge that involved JD – Fifey – SOD - Princess – Tinka to Barista Glossop
resulted in a missed opportunity. Flanagan continued to win the ball and follow
instructions providing our blokes with a supply of the ball. Mossy was
certainly off line on the day when he went OB. Cookie started to come into the
game breaking packs with well judged leaps and took one magnificent contested
grab, one particularly hard to read in the conditions, and finished off with a
goal. At this point the Tigers had
an old fashioned extra in defence as we continued to compete and push forward.
Twenty three shots to 21 by the end of the third stanza. So close yet so far.
Broadie 7 16 to Labrador 11 10
Quickie was on Notting and
having a good day – maybe he could curb Notting’s boot for the quarter? First
clearance to Flannagan who continued to impress. Tinka was on the end of a
chain and his snap was in, out, in, out – a goalus interuptus – that eventually
fell short. In a follow-up play, the adjudicator penalised Tnka in a most
mystifying manner that will quite possibly haunt him, the umpire that is.
Tom Nicholls broke clear
of the Earth’s pull but spilled it on the way down – would have been quite the
grab – where it was rushed off to Fults who kicked accurately around his
body. Macca copped one in
the nether region and ambled off protecting the crown jewells with both hands
to which a crowd wag observed “It’s not that big Macca”
Ironman took off for a 2
bounce run after receiving from Flanagan, and as we held our collective breath,
it of course went through the wrong side of the big ones. We could have been
just one goal off the pace. Nevertheless, we were down by only 11 points.
Searly, Quickie and Princess were in everything, unfortunately an error on a
kick out resulted in a Tiger point which meant we were now three goals short.
Three versus two in a decreasing
period of time is a stressor and it was ever thus. Our blokes never chucked it
in. SOD was throwing himself in after being a little quite, and along with
Rhino, kept us in the game. JD picked up yet another behind after some good
work from Cookie, Flannagan and Fults and then Cookie emulated that feat. Newly
appointed Umpires’ Advisor, Macca’s Dad, was taking on the boundary ump, who
responded with his best throw-in. Quickie took on Featherstone and won a grand
battle for the ball, unfortunately the resulting raffle was won by the tiges
who slippered another goal. Game off. The last couple of minutes flattered the
Tiges but did provide a lesson in finishing, some dramatic goal umpiring and an
unfortunate injury to the boundary ump who was carried off. Fittingly Princess
delivered the ball in to the square where Cookie took another contested mark
and slotted his second.
Final score: Labrador 13 18 96 def Broadbeach 9 20 74
Goals: Rolfe A 3, Fulton 3, Cooke 2 and either Mossy or Tinka 1
Best: Rolfe A, Zorko, Quick, Rolfe T, Dienjes, O’Hare
The Magoos were eventually
defeated in a spirited performance, (how do you go without a Dick), Labrador
13 8 86 to Broadie 6 5 41. Finest hour was at three quarter
time when coach Chants expressed his admiration for Labrador with a few well
chosen expressions.
Goals: Ryan 2, and 1 each to Clough T, Rolfe J, Frawley L and
Green
Best: L Frawley, Treacher, Ryan, Balcombe, a hirsute Emblem, and
Scale
QAFL website
Labrador notched an
important 22-point win over Broadbeach at Cooke-Murphy Oval today to cement
themselves in the top five at this early stage of the season.
The Tigers have now won
three of their four games and continue to build momentum.
In a competitive
arm-wrestle in front of a reasonable crowd for an 11.15am start, Labrador
opened a five-goal margin in the defining second quarter and then withstood
several Cats surges to win 13.18 (96) to 9.20 (74).
Rover Todd Featherstone,
the 2007 Grogan Medal winner, continued his brilliant start to the season with
a fine performance, collecting a mountain of possession and capping his game
with two goals.
Featherstone was the only
four-quarter performer in a game where others contributed in bursts.
One of those was Tim
Notting, who proved the difference between the two sides with five goals.
A strong cross-breeze made
kicking goals difficult at both ends, but Notting called on all his experience
to produce the matchwinning haul.
Featherstone and Notting
were alight early as the Tigers booted the first three goals of the match and
looked in total control, before Aaron Rolfe and Jesse Derrick wrested the
initiative and the Cats peppered the goals in the final 15 minutes.
Their return of 1.8 to the
Tigers’ 3.3 was to prove fatal.
Tigers coach Jarrod Field
refocused his charges at the quarter-time huddle and they responded with 6.6 to
2.1 in the definitive period of the game.
Trent Knobel took charge
in the ruck, Featherstone continued to bob up everywhere and Stanis Susuve cut
loose across half-forward.
Notting provided a solid
marking target inside 50 and the Tigers were always going to be hard to stop
with a 30-point halftime lead.
Tempers flared during the
second quarter and some spot fires broke out in the third as the young Cats hit
back with the first three goals of the term.
Rolfe kicked two of them
and Korey Fulton, back from an overseas holiday, threaded the other as the Cats
got on a roll.
Wayward kicking again
proved their downfall, missing a number of close range shots as 11 shots to
four for the term resulted in a wasteful 4.7 to 3.1.
Trailing by three goals at
the last break, the Cats could not make any inroads as the Tigers turned
wasteful with 2.8 to 2.4 for the term.
Both sides had players
miss after running into open goals from 15m out but the Tigers always appeared
to be in control.
Speedster Curtis Allen did
an outstanding job for his team by nullifying the impact of in-form Cat Dayne
Zorko.
Zorko collected five
touches in the opening five minutes of the game but Fields kept faith in Allen
and he eventually worked his way on top.
To Zorko’s credit he never
stopped running and won a number of contests late in the game, although Allen
even then limited the effectiveness.
Dustin Mills was typically
steady down back for the Tigers, while Peter Everitt marked strongly up forward
in the first half before fading.
His 1.4 could easily have
been better but the big man continues to gain touch with every outing after a
year out of the game.
The Gold Coast FC would
have been delighted with the form of Piers Flanaghan, the teenager rivaling
Rolfe for the Cats’ best player honour in just his second game back from
injury.
Derrick was solid too in
the midfield but the Cats lacked a marking target up forward, a familiar story
over a number of years now.
Fulton always looked
dangerous to finish with 3.4, although his shots at goal mostly came from
leads.
The Tigers travel into the
unknown next week with a trip to the Gabba against a Lions outfit that could be
stacked or unstacked with listed players, while the Cats have a tough trip to
Darwin to face the NT Thunder.
Last Modified on 19/11/2010 15:02
