HUGE HALL AT TIGERS
THE trademark beaming grin said it all as big Barry Hall was showered with sports drink by teammates after his blazing QAFL debut with Labrador.
The veteran former St Kilda, Sydney and Western Bulldogs star had a significant impact with a haul of 8.5 as the Tigers saw off 2015 grand final opponents Morningside on Saturday by 20.13 (133) to 11.10 (76) at Cooke-Murphy Oval.
Now 40, Hall was the man in the spotlight in his first game with Labrador and he did not let down a big crowd.
Club officials said the crowd was in excess of 1500 and much bigger than usual.
Hall played the entire game at full-forward, took heaps of attention away from captain and centre half-back Bryce Retzlaff and even celebrated with a dressing shed beer with the boys in traditional grass roots fashion.
“It worked out perfectly in the end – we got a good win, they (Morningside) come back at us, they tested us and it wasn’t all about one bloke today it was a good team effort,” Hall said.
“I was rusty early, probably just getting to know the boys and how they play and viceversa takes a bit of time.
“Probably a good thing from my point is I don’t want to kick all the goals because that’s unhealthy from the team point of view, so it was a good even spread of goalkickers.”
Retzlaff had 5.1 up at halftime and Southport-listed Matt Fowler kicked 3.2 from a flank. Hall started cramping in the final term but sounded a warning for the future by claiming he can only get fitter.
“I was cramping so I ran less, which may be hard to believe,” he said. “I really enjoyed today because I’d trained with them for so long and it has been a long time coming.
“The standard was good and I thought the skills level was outstanding.
“I was going in blind so I was quite surprised by that.”
Hall’s plans are to play all four of Labrador’s remaining home games, then finals.
At Ord Minnett Oval Palm Beach-Currumbin had a tough 13.14 (92) to 10.11 (71) win over Broadbeach in their Coast derby. PBC led throughout but could not put the Cats to bed as defenders Ben Headland and Liam McNevin excelled and Darcy Dienjes was best for Broadbeach.
Surfers Paradise came from 32 points down at three-quarter time before losing to Mt Gravatt by 14.15 (99) to 13.8 (86) at Dittmer Park.
The Demons stormed home with 7.2 to 4.1 in the final term but ran out of time.