City derby favours the Tigers
CLUB officials will not say as much but there was a sense of relief when Labrador dropped their first decision of the QAFL season last weekend.
The Tigers had won 12 in a row and were on track of a club record streak of 14 – until they crashed to Broadbeach.
Now with some big names back in harness and a monkey of sorts off their backs, the Tigers should bounce back when they play Surfers Paradise in a Coast derby at Cooke-Murphy Oval tomorrow.
The premiership favourites regain four key players in ex-AFL pair Josh Fraser and Matty Lappin, Chris Turner and Brett Davis to tackle the Demons, who are out of finals contention.
Skipper and dual Grogan Medal winner Ryan Davey is still out with an ankle injury but could return after next weekend’s bye.
“It was a good time to get a wake-up call, I guess,” Labrador football manager Jarrod Field said of the Broadbeach loss.
“We’ve got six (matches) to go and we have to refocus. The unbeaten run is something that will not be discussed any more.”
Meanwhile, the Broadbeach Cats are in survival mode needing to win all of their remaining six fixtures to have any chance of playing finals this year.
“We play elimination finals for the rest of the season,” Broadbeach coach Brett Andrews said of the Cats’ position in sixth spot and two wins behind fifth-placed Palm Beach-Currumbin.
“We can’t really drop a decision – and we’d need Palmy to lose a couple.”
The Cats are on the road to Sherwood in Brisbane today to play the Western Magpies. Also today Palm Beach-Currumbin are at home, taking on Mt Gravatt in a danger game at Salk Oval.