Lauderdale saves season

IT’S a testing time for Lauderdale but a team effort has kept its season alive.

Lauderdale had lost its first three games of the season and was staring down the barrel of its fourth when it trailed the Tigers by 20 points at halftime last Friday night.

Lauderdale was without captain Bryce Walsh and its leading goalkicker from last season, Thor Boscott, who are both recovering from longterm injuries.

To add salt to the Bombers’ wounds, star utility Josh McGuinness went off the ground in the first 15 minutes with a troubled hamstring and didn’t play the rest of the game.

Coach Clint Brown questioned his team at the main break, asking for more players to step up.

The second half was a different story, with Lauderdale taking hold of the game and eventually winning by 27 points.

Phil Bellchambers was one of the many who stood up in the second half for Lauderdale, with his attack on the ball in the midfield providing the grunt that his side needed.

“At halftime, Brownie said he just wants some effort,” Bellchambers said. “Not just from four or five blokes but from the whole team. I think everyone stepped up in the last half.”

“We were a bit reactive in the first half. Once we started to get the ball and play the game on our terms, the Tigers had to be accountable and couldn’t run off.”

Bellchambers said getting the first win for the season was a relief and believes the Bomb- ers will only get better from now.

“It’s good to get the first win of the year,” he said.

“It’s only a couple more weeks and we will get all our Mariners back.

“Bryce isn’t too far away and hopefully we get Thor back too.

“I think we are on the up from here.”

Another inclusion that Lauderdale will gain in a few weeks is its head coach Darren Winter.

Winter is four games into serving his six-match sanction handed to him after a quartertime outburst at the umpires in last year’s Grand Final.