THRILLING TRIUMPH FOR TIGERS

THE Tigers turned a halftime deficit into a thrilling victory at North Hobart Oval last night with a stunning comeback against the Demons. It was their second win of the season — and the boys in yellow and black enjoyed every minute of it.

A FADING North Hobart scored just four points after halftime to be overrun by a fresher Kingborough side at North Hobart Oval last night.

The 9.5 (59) to 8.6 (54) victory keeps the Tigers in with a sniff of finals in a truncated season while the loss will sting the Demons after two games in just five days.

The game was at a covid crowd capacity for the loyal North Hobart faithful but you wouldn’t expect the Dees hierarchy to be lining up to play another game off a short break any time soon.

North Hobart hit the halftime break upbeat, leading by 24 points after Sam Caswell calmly slotted home a set shot goal after the siren to give the Dees all the momentum after an excellent term.

Big forward Julian Dobosz was presenting everywhere for the Demons, creating opportunities for his teammates to swoop as well as slotting two goals himself.

After the break the Dees looked to have ran out of petrol tickets, unable to penetrate their forward line effectively while the Tigers found another gear and were relentless.

Will Campbell put in a power of work in the forward half of the ground, continually bobbing up for his side and being rewarded with two goals.

Coach Trent Baumeler praised the work of his star midfielder: “He just wasn’t going to let us lose.”

Kieran Lovell fought hard for his bag of possessions through midfield while Lochie Griggs was slick through the wings and half-forward.

Luke Graham kicked one of the goals of the season with a fadeaway banana from the pocket in the Tigers’ third term rally, while Campbell kept the basketball theme going with an accidental behind-the-back before a classy finish.

The Demons rearguard was under siege but, led by a manful performance by Sam Collins, battled time and again against the onslaught and almost held on.

In the end it was a free kick almost 12 minutes into the final term to Oliver Burrows-Cheng which got the Tigers in front 59-54, which they held until the final siren.

North Hobart coach Richard Robinson was making no excuses over the short break post-match but lamented some of his side’s decisionmaking.

He said the loss would sting his young side, which featured 10 teenagers.

Kingborough travels to Glenorchy on Sunday while North Hobart has 10 days off before visiting Launceston.