Young guns bring Hawks crashing down to earth
A YOUTHFUL Hermit Park team has stamped their authority on the AFL Townsville competition, putting the Hawks to the sword in a grand final replay.
With a handful of the club’s burgeoning junior talent pushing into the senior ranks, the Tigers controlled the contest at Riverway Stadium from the opening whistle.
Co-captain Jason Di Betta booted four goals while young gun Callaway Parker finished with three goals as the Tigers romped home to a 19.19 (133) to 4.5 (29) win.
The experienced Di Betta refused to take the praise for the table-topper’s dominant performance, instead shining the light on the club’s juniors.
“It was great all across the park,” he said. “With a few blokes out, we had a lot of young fellas from our under-17s come up and play. That was probably the youngest side we have played.
“It was good to see them come in and learn our structures quickly and put that into play. They brought an extra energy to everything we did, they definitely made life easier for a few of our older heads.”
Both sides were understrength with players away on army drills and on holidays during the university break.
But it did not stop the two sides from aiming up for the clash, with the Tigers working hard in the lead up to put in a strong game plan.
“It was a pretty hard game, it was good game to get the upper hand,” Di Betta said. “We knew we had to plan pretty heavily, we have played these guys in the past two grand finals and knew they weren’t going to take a backwards step.
“We had a good game plan, we wanted to control the tempo throughout the game.
“(The Hawks) did start to get a bit of momentum in that second quarter, but I was proud of the way the guys got back on top.” In other Saturday action, Curra Swans drew level with Thuringowa in second spot on the AFLT ladder with a 40-point away victory over Northern Beaches.
Forward Jack Gusmeroli booted five goals for the Swans as they secured a 16.5 (101) to 8.12 (60) win.
It sets up a mouth-watering clash this weekend as the Swans aim to ride their momentum into a home clash against the Tigers at Muldoon Oval.