Empty bench, but Tigers still get win
UP by 32 at the three-quarter break, Hermit Park coach Brett Hughes turned to his bench and saw nothing.
The reigning AFL Townsville premiers had been depleted by injury during a dominant start to the win over University Hawks.
It forced the coach to scrap the original game plan and turn to his experienced heads to guide the team through a tough final quarter.
“As the fatigue set in with a few injuries and lack of regular rotation, I knew they just had to ground it out,” Hughes said.
“Through the first half of the game we got on top of them and that gave us the opportunity to switch the plan. The key was the way we move it. We tried to control the ball a bit more, we just didn’t have the legs to play a fast style.
“At three-quarter time we just pulled the boys up and told them what to do. It was a deliberate plan and we train for a lot of that stuff. The players were ready for it.”
It was a ploy that would come off as the Tigers returned to some of their best football, winning the final quarter 28-1 to post a comfortable (15.10) 100 to (6.5) 41 win over the Hawks.
It was a victory led by one of the club’s newest faces with Victorian full forward Matt Rice kicking five goals and five behinds to notch a personal tally of 35 points.
But it was one of the club’s young stars who was judged best on ground by his coach with Gold Coast Suns Academy player Callaway Parker kicking three goals in the win.
It has been a time of transition for the Tigers, highlighted by two early losses to Thuringowa and Curra at the start of the season. But the new faces are beginning to jell on the field and it is evident in their back-to-back wins.
“We have had a few injuries which haven’t helped, so we have had to test the depth of the club,” Hughes, who laced up the boots for the first time in four years in reserve grade, said.
“We had a few of the new guys playing and they have done well. (Rice) is our new full forward and he put in a good showing up front. He copped a fair bit of flak after the game for running into an open goal and missing for a behind.
“But he is very smart with the way he leads.
“We are just setting ourselves new benchmarks in every area each week and hopefully by the end of the year we will be up there competing with the best sides in the competition. We’re not expecting to turn it around in a week but we also don’t have a lot of time.”
In other AFL Townsville seniors action, John Dempsey booted a remarkable 12 goals as the Thuringowa Bulldogs drew level with Curra at the top of the ladder with a thumping 186-15 win over Northern Beaches Suns.