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Two too close
In what can only be described as a stressful day for Tigers coaches, players and supporters last weekend, both the Rising Stars and First Grade triumphed in their Preliminary Finals and now progress to this Saturday’s AFL Canberra Grand Finals. But the results couldn’t have been much closer with a one point win in Rising Stars and a two point win in First Grade.
Rising Stars
The Rising Stars have hit their straps late in the season and have played some of their best football in recent weeks. The wet and slippery conditions on the weekend made for a challenging game against quality opposition in Marist Football Club.
The first quarter was an indication of just how tight the game would pan out to be with the sides going in to the break locked at 2.1.13 apiece. By the long break our boys had slipped to be four points down 4.4.28 to 5.2.32.
The third quarter is often referred to as the “premiership quarter” where sides dig deep to put everything on the line. Our boys certainly did that is this was our best quarter on the filed and on the scoreboard where we registered four goals and turned the four point deficit into a eight point lead – 8.6.54 to 7.4.46.
The final quarter was an arm wrestle with our boys unable to take advantage of possession going forward. The backline stood strong to withstand an avalanche from a fast finishing Marist, but we hung on for the win, 9.8.62 to 9.7.61.
Queanbeyan Tigers2.1-134.4-288.6-549.8-62Marist2.1-135.2-327.4-469.7-61
Queanbeyan Goal Kickers: D. Lord 2, K. Stevens 2, N. Bull, M. Wallis, T. Van Luin, N. Verma, W. Morshead Best Players: A. Lo Pilato, D. Edwards, C. Marsh, W. Morshead, M. McKenzie, H. Peters
Marist
Goal Kickers: J. Crowe 3, R. Pollock 2, J. Elwin, M. Beaumont, M. Kendrick, W. Clark
First Grade
The Canberra Times was on hand to report on the First Grade game which after a great first half, looked like slipping away in the dying stages as Belconnen mounted a strong fightback, kicking five goals in a row, and briefly hit the lead.
Following is the Canberra Times article:AFL Canberra: Queanbeyan Tigers scrape through to grand final with 78-76 win over Belconnen MagpiesQueanbeyan Tigers and Belconnen Magpies have added another classic match to their fierce rivalry.
Before Saturday, the two had shared the honours this season but it mattered little when the Tigers eventually emerged victorious by two points in the preliminary final, sending the Magpies out of the AFL Canberra finals in straight-sets.Tigers coach Kade Klemke mid-week rightly predicted a tough and physical encounter.
A four-goal opening term to the Tigers built a comfortable gap between the two sides in greasy conditions at Manuka Oval. And from there a four-goal buffer remained for most of the error-filled match until the Magpies found another gear late in the third quarter.
They were spurred on by a small but vocal crowd which saw them get within 15 points at the last break and their momentum continued into the last quarter where they kicked the first three goals to take the lead.
Suddenly Belconnen had superior skills with the slippery ball, regularly finding space in their forward half on the back of fast ball movement.
From there the two went goal-for-goal and the previously error-riddled game burst into an exciting open game full of energy and courage.But Queanbeyan wrestled back the lead and will go through and play Ainslie Tricolours in the grand final next week where they hope to repeat their heroics of last year and upset the overwhelming favourites.
Klemke said he was relieved to survive a heart-stopping finish.
“We’ve had a great rivalry with Belco but it’s always good to be on the winning end.
“It was sloppy and then the last quarter Belconnen just made it look easy, and we just kept fumbling and missing tackles, which really got them in the game.
“It’s wet weather footy and we were really happy with that first half, but you have got to play four quarters and it was disappointing that we got to that stage where we just snuck through. But I’ll take it.
“We didn’t do ourselves any favours and to Belconnen’s credit they kept coming at us and kept nipping away, and we’re going to have to put up a much better performance if we’re going to beat Ainslie next week.”
Queanbeyan Tigers 4.6 6.9 9.9 11.12 (78)
Belconnen Magpies 1.4 2.6 7.6 11.10 (76)
Goals – Queanbeyan: B. Fruend 2, A. Page 2, N. Edwards 2, S. Lancaster, R. Stevens, T. Clowry, P. Slater, C. Milne; Belconnen: S. Coate 2, R. Healy 2, A. Bennett 2, R. Hartwig 2, R. Turnbull, D. Bunyan, A. Lamb.
Best – Queanbeyan: C. Milne, R. Stevens, M. Vardanega, J. Manie, J. Bryce, T. Collins; Belconnen: J. Bennett, S. Coate, R. Turnbull, A. Bennett, A. Jones, B. Walker.
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