Tigers’ turnaround sheeted home to Demons defeat

TIGERS coach Trent Baumeler is not out to avenge the side’s Round 8 loss to North Hobart but admits he has the Demons to thank for making it a better team.

The Tigers were expected to beat the winless Demons that day at the Twin Ovals, but the boys in blue and red broke through for their first and only win of the season. The Tigers have improved exponentially since, peaking with a win over premiership contender Launceston.

“I wouldn’t say it was a turning point but it was a catalyst for our standards and our preparation and those sorts of things, which have really turned around,” Baumeler said.

“You can see that in the last sixweek block of footy we’ve played, it has been pretty decent.” A restructuring also helped. “We’ve changed some things around,” Baumeler said.

“I think every team is better as we get towards the back end of the year as they get used to new players new coaches, new structures.

“Everyone grows over the course of the year; North Hobart are better than they were last time we played them.”

The Tigers rearranged their attack with the injection of defender Mitch Carter into the forward 50m.

“We identified after the North Hobart game that we’d gone away from what our strengths were,” Baumeler said. “Mitch has been really good for us up forward. But Ryan Matthews is out for the year and so is Cooper Sawdy, and those sorts of things forced our hand and forced us to make that structural change, especially with Mitch.”