When the final siren sounded at Rockbank to end the 1st Semi Final in 2010, the Lancefield Tigers had been knocked out of the finals race. Following that loss the Tigers faced an exodus of premiership players and found themselves on the bottom of the RDFL ladder.
Since that contest, the Tigers hadn't tasted success in the Harrison Hyundai Senior competition, that was, until Round 6 of the 2012 season, when the Tigers faced off with Woodend/Hesket at Gilbert Gordon Oval.
The Tigers had slowly been building their list over the course of the season and were looking to lift their competitive levels against some quality opposition. On Saturday, they entered the game agains the Hawks with their best team since that fateful final in 2010. The game marked the return of Premiership hero's Dale Joesph and Jay Shewan to the line up, while Port Melbourne listed young gun Jake Sutcliffe made his return to the club thanks to a bye for the Borough. They joined the recently signed Ben Richmond, the returning John Baker and club stalwarts Paul Cook and Phil Conway to form a competitive nucleaus that would aide the youthful list put together by Senior Coach Paul Tilley.
The Tigers controlled the play for much of the day, skipping away to an early lead and never headed. Despite some momentum shifts in the game, the Tigers were able to hold the Hawks at bay and in the end come away with a comfortable win on the back of 5 goals from Baker and 3 from Richmond. But it was Sutcliffe and young stars Chris Burkett and Chris James that led the way.
It has been a long wait for the Tigers, but finally on the weekend they were again able to sing their club song with gusto and provide a morale boosting win for the town of Lancefield moving forward.
Last Modified on 21/05/2012 09:21