Well our Tiger boys hit an eager freight train in Maroochydore in the Sunshine Coast Derby at Fisherman's Road on Saturday with the season now on the line with a 3 and 3 record not going to cut it if we want to do more than make up the numbers in 2009.
I still believe that we have enough passionate young men with character and a great coach and that with strong support our Tigers will be able to rebound and take the lessons learned in our 3 losses (and we were in each of these games at some stage) and make an impact in the remaining 2/3 of the season.
In the first quarter kicking into a 3 goal breeze (that died at 1/4 time!) the boys were on top and we should have been further than 2 points up at the first break.Rizza started off like a bomb, Trompfy was rugged and powerful at CHB, Cubby and the midfielders looked good, Hicksy was providing a traget when not mobbed and Boothy looked in good touch again. Probably our only weakness appeared to be the back half that until this match had been our strongest group.
Playing tempo footy in the second, the Roos slowed the game down and controlled a lot of possession. 4 goals to 1 and rampant rebound out of our forward line had our blokes licking their wounds a bit at half time. A six day break and perhaps thinking our opponents were the Roos of 2008 had our Tiges with their backs to the wall.
In the third we drew to within 8 points a couple of times and it was now Rizza up forward who provided a real target and if not for Maroochydore's great run from defence we may have been in touch at 3/4 time rather than 21 points in arrears.
The last was a bit disappointing as all any club can hope for is that its teams fight to the finish. Some of our guys were pretty knocked up (Nick H & Ryan Sawers especially) but in the main it was our opponents that maintained their eagerness and work rate to win by 43 points
Noosa 3.4 4.9 8.10 11.10 (76)
Roos 3.2 7.5 12.6 18.11 (119)
Multiple Goal Kickers: Ryan Jeffery 4, Matt Hicks 3, Adam Booth 2
CLICK HERE for nearly 60 (improved - new camera boys) shots from the game
The Reserves jumped out of the blocks well kicking 5.4 with the wind and probably unlucky to concede 3 to the opposition. Nathan McKenzie was again good in the midfield and Jack Rhodes coming back in toughened us up a bit while Alex Swenson, Chayse Tilley & Stuart Burns again held firm in defence and rebounded to advantage.
In the Second quarter the Roos came back but with only a 4 point half time lead the game was in the balance and we hoped that Lucas Theophinides (who was battling a slight injury), Andrew Stewart and the boys could carry us across the line. After several weeks of good form, a couple of our younger blokes werent up to their sparkling best but Maxy Paterson continued his good form and Gabe Waterman returned after a 2 week absence with 2 goals up forward in the first half and plenty of touches in the second
Sadly it was the Roos who rallied after the long break adding 11 goals to 7 in the second half to take the Choccies by 27 points. In short, you cant go 2 quarters without a goal (2nd & 3rd) and hope to win a match
Noosa 5.4 5.4 5.6 10.6 (66)
Roos 3.2 5.8 9.9 14.9 (93)
Multiple Gaol Kickers: Lucas Theo, Andrew Stewart, Gabe Waterman all 2
For over 40 photos of the match CLICK HERE
Last Modified on 29/05/2009 19:03