‘Upset Saturday’ was crowned in Alice Springs tonight when the spirited Aspley brought the NT Thunder’s 10-game winning streak to a shuddering halt.
The Hornets took full advantage of the late withdrawal of four NT guns to notch an outstanding 40-point victory, their ability to limit or shut down matchwinners Cameron Ilett, Kenrick Tyrrell and Darren Ewing proving decisive.
The Hornets suffocated the northern conference leaders in the first half and then piled on the goals themselves when the game opened up in the second.
The Aspley defensive unit as a whole was superb, with Brendan Colch, Robert Copeland, Steve Brittain and Michael Hutchinson playing key roles in restricting the Thunder to their lowest score ever in the NEAFL or QAFL.
“The backline played very well and it’s hard to single them out but our forward line pressure was also very important,” said Aspley coach Russell Evans.
It was a stunning performance by the ever-improving Hornets and stamped them as a serious finals contender on the back of the 15.9 (99) to 8.11 (59) success.
While everyone in the small crowd at Traeger Park was expecting a Thunder fightback in the third term, it was the Hornets who broke the game open by dominating the final 10 minutes.
The high-scoring Thunder managed just three goals in the first half, missing the talents of the explosive Ross Tungatalum and Bradley Palipuaminni, and the class of Jason Roe (injured) and the ill Jarred Ilett.
The Hornets possessed the best midfielder – and player - on the ground in Micah Buchanan, who continued his outstanding form.
Buchanan was busy in the middle and helping out down back, picking up close to 40 possessions.
Gangly full-back Colch grew further in stature by holding leading goalkicker Ewing to a solitary goal, his lowest tally for the season.
Colch spoiled the ball at every opportunity and while he had plenty of support at the contests in the form of Copeland and Brittain, he was outstanding with the way he backed himself.
Aspley prepared diligently for this game over the last two weeks and hit the ground running, booting 4.4 to 0.4 in the opening term.
The experienced Matt Shir, who has soldiered on through regular injury restrictions, was important in helping Aspley to their quarter-time lead.
“He set us up really well, especially early,” Evans agreed.
Aspley’s ability to get numbers around the ball in the midfield and even more down back frustrated the usually free-running Thunder.
Ewing was unable to find the space to which he is accustomed and even when the Thunder won more ball in the second term and had the ball forward for long periods, they struggled to convert and narrowed the margin only to three goals at the long break.
The third term was an arm wrestle until the visitors booted a brace of unanswered goals in time-on to stretch the margin to 33 points at the last change.
Two brilliant passages of play early in the final term when the Thunder swept the ball from the last line of defence to their forward 50 without the opposition touching it showed they would not roll over, even if the shots at goal were missed.
Adam Hughes had already scored the first goal of last quarter with a quality set shot from 40m and while Charlie Maher Junior excited his local crowd with some dashing runs out of defence and down the grandstand wing, the Thunder never looked like threatening.
While Ilett tried hard for the Thunder, he was unable to break apart the game like he has already done on a several occasions this year due to the close-checking of duel tags Jeff Teale and Scott Waters.
“I know his last few games he’s been down a bit but I was too frightened to let him off the hook,” Evans admitted of the decision to maintain the hard tag on Ilett.
Consistent midfielders Jake Dignan and Karl Lohde tried hard in the midfield and Dane Bergmann was solid, but the Thunder were uncharacteristically sloppy for most of the day.
At the same time, they were playing an Aspley outfit that has prided itself on the evenness of the contribution of every player in the team.
“We’ve have a couple of good ones lately but it would be a bit hard to say this was not our best win of the season,” Evans admitted.
Last Modified on 27/06/2011 11:43