Lovell garnered 45 touches and no votes as Tigers look to bounce back
IN sport, there are lies, damn lies and statistics.
The stats don’t lie about the performance of Tigers onballer Kieran Lovell last week despite their loss to northern powerhouse Launceston at Windsor Park.
The former Hawthorn recruit who averaged 21 disposals per game at West Adelaide amassed one of the TSL season’s highest disposal totals with an amazing 45 touches in the 82point pounding.
Surprisingly, Lovell, who helped the Tigers win clearances and stoppages on the day, did not register a vote in the TSL Player of the Year Award when votes came out on Monday.
“It was a pretty solid game by Kieran
but he didn’t appear in the votes,” Tigers coach Trent Baumeler said.
While the loss was a major disappointment, so was the way it came about. “We turned the ball over way too much and that did not give us the volume of inside-50s that we needed to allow us to score,” Baumeler said.
“That’s credit to Launceston and the pressure they brought and they showed how good a team they are.”
All is not lost for the Tiges. “If you look back to 2014 and at about the same time of year, Clarence beat North Launceston at Bellerive by over 100 points and in the second semi-final North turned that around and went on to win the grand final,” Baumeler said.
“So it can be turned around. We get another chance to play them up there in three weeks.” North Hobart will feel the force as second-placed Tigers re-establish their power.
“We know we will have to be on our game right from the start,’’ Baumeler said. We want to respond after last week.
“Our players have a fair bit of pride and they are not happy with the performance we put in.
“It has been an intense week on the track and we know we have got to bring all of our heat to the first 10 minutes of the contest this week.
“We always have good games against North Hobart, really spirited contests, and we want to see our guys like Kieran, Eddie Cole and Lachie Clifford to get to work around the ball and give our forwards a good look at the ball.”