TSL Tigers bolster bigman firepower
THE TSL Tigers beefed up their bigman power by signing former Brisbane Lions Academy player Jack Tomkinson on a two-year deal to bolster their campaign for a maiden State League grand final appearance next season.
Tomkinson, 22, was a member of the Lions Academy in 2018 and spent the past few seasons playing for Aspley, Maroochydore and Coorparoo in Queensland.
The Tasmanian-born ruckman-forward will add to the Tigers’ firepower in attack,
which took a hit this year when injuries to key players hurt them inside forward 50.
Tigers coach Trent Baumeler was delighted he finally got his man.
“Jack is someone we’ve been talking to for the past three years,” he said.
“He is originally from the Huon Valley. He moved away to Queensland at the back end of primary school and he is friends with quite a few our players he went through school with. He has always stayed in touch with them.
“It was just a matter of when he was going to come
home. “He has been down around the club before. We thought we might have had him going into 2020 but he decided to stay in Queensland. But we’ve always stayed in contact with him.”
The Tigers staved off interest from TSL rivals.
“When they got wind that Jack was coming home quite a few other clubs had a chat to him, but those close ties at our club saw him come to us.”
Tomkinson played for the Allies in the same year as the squad contained Tasmanians Baxter Norton, Chayce Jones, Nick Baker, Tarryn Thomas, Fraser Turner, Blair Rubock,
Lachlan Gadomski, Mitch Anderton, Rhyan Mansell, Matt McGuiness, Tim Auckland, Ethan Jackson and Mitch O’Neill.
“Jack’s a 200cm ruck-forward who will give us a bit of support for Marcus Gardner, who carried the can all by himself this year,” Baumeler said.“It gives us flexibility with our tall stocks with him and Jordan Lane coming into the team.” The Tigers are pleased with their recruiting campaign. “We wanted to address our depth with talls,” Baumeler said. “Last season when Tyler Carter and Cooper Sawdy got injured, it was basically Marcus Gardner and Max Collidge doing the lion’s share of the work.
“So to get Jack Tomkinson and Jordan Lane, they are key signings for us, as well as Connor Salter from Brighton, who had a really solid year in the SFL and has played a fair bit of TSL footy before at Glenorchy.
“Those three will be really good for us and we are really happy they are joining our group.” After a month of individual programs, the Tigers start preseason training at the end of November. Tomkinson arrives between Christmas and New Year.