Tigers last chance disappears.

The Tigers last chance of playing in the 2013 NEAFL finals series has disappeared when defeated by Ainslie at Ainslie Oval last Sunday  –  a late goal sealing victory for the Tricolours by 3 points.

Had the Tigers won they would still been in contention of taking a spot in the finals.  They are now two games out plus percentage with only two games remaining.

It is little consolation to know that the Tigers certainly had a list worthy of defending the premiership – however luck plays an important part in success and that important ingredient went astray this year.

There were four changes to the team that were well defeated by Sydney Uni the previous week.  Paul Franchi, James McCabe and Ben King were all absent due to injury while Mat Cavedon withdrew due to a work related accident.

 The all important encounter against Ainslie lived up to expectations with a tight fought match that entertained the spectators who braved cold and blustery conditions to witness the match.

Neither team could to take advantage of a strong breeze blowing to the canteen end of the ground.

Queanbeyan played with all the endeavour and spirit so prevalent during last year’s highly successful season.  The young guns mixed it with experience and produced a strong display leading for the majority of the encounter.

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Captain Ryan Quade produced a gem of a game.  Playing down back (for the majority of the encounter) he was certainly prominent throughout.   Toby Conroy was his ever reliable self along with Coach Kade Klemke whose endeavour to win a tough contest must rate him highly for a strong showing in all awards available this year.

It was tremendous to see young Kieran Shea produce what is expected of him after only recently coming back into the NEAFL team.  A lengthy spell on the sideline due to an injury pre season and regular setbacks on each occasion he returned have finally disappeared albeit with only a few weeks remaining.  But he can take plenty of confidence from his showing on Sunday and look forward to 2014.

A change of position for Steve Jolliffe provided a new focus for this talented individual and he celebrated his 21st birthday in style with a best on ground performance for the Tigers.  Livewire Ben Fulford was active up and down the ground with his speed and tenacity a feature.  Kaine Stevens posted three goals with another strong performance.   Will Griggs again showed his toughness in all encounters and desire to win the hard ball.

Overall a strong showing by the Tigers but with just two games remaining only a minor miracle would see them take a place in the finals in defence of their 2012 premiership title.

This week they take on competition leaders Belconnen at Diary Farmers Park on Sunday.

Ainslie2.4-163.8-268.12-6010.16-76Queanbeyan3.3-215.7-378.10-5810.13-73

Ainslie

Goal Kickers: L. Jarjoura 2, N. Paine 2, J. Hirst 2, M. Crook , C. Barrie , L. Crook , S. Ellis Best Players: I. Lawless, D. Bowles, N. Heyne, A. Vandenberg, J. Hirst, R. Tuohey

Queanbeyan

Goal Kickers: K. Stevens 3, J. Kavanagh 2, B. Fulford , J. Thompson , S. Jensen , W. Griggs , T. Conroy Best Players: R. Quade, K. Klemke, K. Stevens, K. Shea, S. Jolliffe, B. Fulford

AFL Canberra Division 1

Once again the Division 1 team took the full brunt of the NEAFL team’s injury problems.

For this reason, a number of Under 18 Grade players were selected to play Division 1 and they certainly did not look out of place in the higher grade.   In fact the majority of players in the team were either players from the 2012 or 2013 Under 18 grade team(s).

Jason Taylor was fantastic throughout and has a real future in the senior grade.  In only his second game outside of the Rising Stars team he threw himself into every contest and showed the way for some of the more experience players.

Chase Grintell has also developed with a few games in the NEAFL this season. His speed and high marking being a feature. Cam Griggs keeps getter better with age – having another outstanding game.

Ainslie remain undefeated this year and are premiership favourites.   They were also missing some quality players but were able to maintain their undefeated run with a consistent four quarters of football – something the youthful Tigers could not manage.

Tigerettes

The Tigerettes also played Ainslie and although defeated, this was the closest they have been to a 1st Division club all year and shows the improvement of the players in such a short period of time since the inception of the team just three years ago.

In the end it was an 11 point loss which could have been less had the Tigerettes maintained a full list on the field.  As it was they finished with just 17 players.

It was a strong and encouraging effort as they enter the finals series in just two weeks time.

Congratulations to Tegan Tisma on the playing of her 50th Club Game.

The Tigerettes play their final home and away match this Saturday against ADFA at RMC.