by Jim Gordon
A large crowd at Underbool was treated to an entertaining Preliminary Final in which Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers came out on top by 26 points over a Beulah side that is now out of the premiership race. The Blues looked flat, they lacked a spark to get them going, their skills were down all over the ground and they never once looked like reaching the dizzying heights of their past two seasons.
On the other hand, the Tigers were full of endeavour from the very first bounce. Even when they were a little erratic to get going in the first half, they didn’t let that stop them from sticking to the task of running, using their superior teamwork and continually hassling the Beulah players when they got the ball.
The stiff breeze that blew in from the south west was always going to be a factor in a match between two sides that rely on high marking, attacking handball and precision kicking. Yet, as it turned out, both sides kicked goals at both ends, and play did not seem to be bottled up on either side of the ground.
The conditions may have made it harder for players to judge the flight of the ball, to use the ball effectively or to score goals, but the Tigers more than made up for this by having players who were prepared to run and back each other up and to use their superior leg speed to run into space. At times it looked like Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers had large portions of the ground all to themselves so reluctant were the Blues to run and chase.
The first half of the match was an even affair with neither side able to break away. If anything, Beulah looked to have the better of the Tigers early and seemed to be able to hang on to the pacy Tigers and score themselves if and when they needed. Beulah relied on their long kicking to position, high marking in one on one duels and greater body strength around the packs. This has served them well in the past, but the Blues were not on their game on Saturday, resulting in inaccurate passing, fumbling and allowing the more eager Tigers to incept so many of those loose kicks.
Beulah had a high marking target all day in Adam Carter across half forward, Gareth Hose was creating drive from across the centre and in a brief purple patch, David King kicked two quick goals in the first term and the Blues looked to be in charge.
Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers persisted in the first half; they did not look as tall or as strong as their more fancied opponents, they did not have the penetrating kicking of a Sam Martin or a Peter Lehmann, but what they did have was an ability to get numbers at the ball, an ability to fully utilise the wide open spaces of the Underbool ground and a greater desire to back each other up in the tight clinches.
None exemplified this more than Tiger John Foskett. An unlikely looking match winner, Foskett could be seen running all day, chasing and smothering, and when the ball ran free, he was first to swoop, pick it up and run forward looking for someone in a better position to pass it off.
His kicks may not have the penetration he would like, but they were always to his team’s advantage and more importantly, closer to gaol for his side. Foskett was one of several Tigers who spent a lot of their energy and defensive skills just keeping the ball in the Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers’ forward line for as long as possible.
In the first half Josh Longeri did a lot of damage for Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers. Not overly tall, Longeri can nevertheless take a tall man’s grab and his two goal first half kept the Tigers well in the race. After half time Beulah had Dylan Turnbull follow Longeri everywhere and he did a good job in quelling the skilful Tiger.
The Tigers had another key play maker in Mark Roberts who took some great grabs on the day, none better than his one-hander in the first term. The resultant kick fell short, but after good play from Col Durie to Matt Elliott a Sea Lake Nandaly Tiger behind was scored that really deserved to be a goal as just reward for the work of Roberts.
The ruck duels went Beulah’s way for most of the day. Kim Hallam did a lot of the work for Beulah, with Steph Saunders giving him a break towards the end of each quarter except for the final term when Beulah used Saunders at full forward in a desperate attempt to regain the impetus that Sea Lake Nandaly had grabbed in the third term. Saunders took some nice marks when resting up forward, and kicked one goal, but needed to convert all of his chances in the final term for Beulah to have had any chance of wresting the game away from the Tigers.
Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers must have believed that they had the fitness and leg speed to not only keep up with Beulah all day, but to be able to come away from them at the end. In the first quarter, almost all of the Tiger forwards congregated in and around the goal square. When a Sea Lake Nandaly Tiger broke loose across the centre, his forwards quickly ran up the ground creating options. On many occasions Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers drove deep into attack by fast running and accurate passing.
The Tiger defence got better as the match wore on. Luke Martin had the better of Jason Turnbull, John Guthrie was unobtrusive but highly effective, and Col Durie could be seen helping out down back when needed. Against a formidable looking Beulah forward line, that was decidedly flat on the day, the Tigers were prepared to do the hard work, punch the ball and back each other up.
On the other hand, the Beulah backline looked slow to get to the drop of the ball and lacked their usual resilience. Tim Hill was probably the best of them, he was one who tried hard to get to the contest and punch the ball. He took a few marks and was at times able to run out of defence.
Beulah looked a dispirited team by the end of the day. They were flat, slow and their skills were down. Added to this they had injury problems with Sam Martin hobbling on a dodgy ankle and Tyler Lehmann coming off with a shoulder injury. Lehmann went back on, but he was definitely out of sorts and favoured his shoulder when going for marks for the rest of the game.
For Sea Lake Nandaly Tigers the reward for a great win is a chance to try and defeat the might of Ouyen United in the Grand Final at Woomelang on Saturday. Whatever happens, and the Demons must be strong favourites, the Tigers have had a great end to a season that looked to be off the rails during the middle of the season.
Last Modified on 12/09/2011 09:00