By Murray Silby
NT Thunder has been soundly beaten by Gold Coast in NEAFL’s Round 5, losing by 70 points, 7.9 (51) to 18.13 (121) at TIO Stadium in Darwin on Saturday night.
The result was an abrupt reality check for Thunder after celebrating its first win of the season the week before against Redland.
One week on from the ANZAC Round victory, the previously winless Suns proved a more formidable opponent, setting up their big win with a nine goal to one first term.
In a remarkable first quarter, there were just six points between the two sides after 13 minutes, with the Suns leading two goals to one, kicked by Nicholas Yarran.
But in the next 19 minutes, Gold Coast piled on another 7.4 to nothing to take a huge 52-point lead into the first change.
Although the Suns still outscored their hosts by 63 points to 45 (+18) in the remaining three quarters, Thunder’s endeavour improved to make the match more of a contest.
The danger signs were well and truly laid out in the first quarter though with on-baller Sean Lemmens kicking three goals in the term, Ben King one and Fitzroy Greenwool one also.
Each of those three would go on to boot four in the match with Lemmens a clear best on ground for his work all over the field.
Thunder managed to slow Gold Coast’s scoring in the second quarter with only Greenwool and Josh Schoenfeld adding to the Suns’ goals column while Adam Tipungwuti kicked his first of three for the day for the home side.
Despite managing to tighten the matchup though, Thunder still fell behind its opponent by a further 10 points to trail by 62 at half-time.
Facing a massive challenge in the second half, Thunder got exactly what it didn’t want within 30 seconds of the third term getting underway – another Greenwool goal – his fourth.
Lemmens then added his fourth and Will Brodie his first to push the lead out to 80 points.
Abraham Ankers, Tipungwuti and Dean Staunton pulled three goals back for Thunder, but King with two more and James Mohr with his second saw the home side’s deficit climb to 77 points.
It was a quarter of lost opportunities for Thunder, matching the Suns for scoring shots – 7 – but being outscored 6.1 to 3.4.
To Thunder’s credit though, the players continued to fight on and won the final quarter 2.3 to 1.2.
Goals to Trent Melville and Tipungwuti’s third of the match ensured some respectability, but King’s fourth for the Suns underlined his side’s dominance of the night.
Thunder lost both Braedon McLean and Josiah Farrer before half time through concussion and a hamstring injury respectively, making it even tougher for it to fight back from the first quarter deficit.
Both Thunder’s co-captains, Ankers and Shannon Rioli, playing his first game in three months, did their best to lift their team’s fortunes without success.
Joe Anderson and Ben Rioli were others to fight on throughout, and Tipungwuti was lively when the opportunities came.
Thunder coach Darren Reeves was understandably disappointed with the performance of his side after the promise shown the week before.
“The first quarter was horrible obviously,” he said. “It was really frustrating that we went back to some stuff that we weren’t doing well in the first couple of games.
“We were drawn to the footy, and blokes not playing their roles. We got smashed around the contest, we got sucked to the footy in numbers and got exposed on the outside, and they had some quality footballers in and around the football that made us look a bit silly there in the first quarter.
“Then frustration leads to a bit of ill-discipline, and that just kept the momentum going their way, and that was really frustrating.”
Despite the disappointment though, Reeves said he could find some positives.
“The positive, you take out is that from that point on (after quarter time) it was a bit of a battle and while it wasn’t pretty at times, and we didn’t play anywhere near where we want to play, we didn’t let it get too far down, we had to scrap it a little bit from there,” he suggested.
Reeves said Thunder continues to work on preventing an opposition kicking a run of successive goals.
“In modern football it’s so important around the contest, and when you get exposed, and you’re not playing your role around the contest, like we did tonight, it’s really, really difficult to stop,” he explained.
“Even when we had momentum at times, we had to work so hard to win the football that we weren’t able to execute going forward either, that’s really disappointing.”
Reeves said the group is remaining positive, despite its season falling to one win and three losses.
“We’re only a young group,” he said. “We took a step forward last week, we took a couple of steps backwards tonight, but we’ll keep turning up and keep doing our work and look forward to improving again next week.”
The challenge doesn’t get any easier for Thunder with second-placed reigning premier Southport preparing to host it in Round 6.
NT THUNDER 1.0, 2.2, 5.6, 7.9 (51)
GOLD COAST 9.4, 11.9, 17.12, 18.13 (121)
GOALS: NT Thunder – Adam Tipungwuti 3, Abraham Ankers, Trent Melville, Dean Staunton, Nicholas Yarran.
Gold Coast – Fitzroy Greenwool, Ben King, Sean Lemmens 4, James Mohr 2, Will Brodie, Ryan Gilmore, Michael Rischitelli, Josh Schoenfeld.
BEST: NT Thunder – Ben Rioli, Shannon Rioli, Phillip Wills, Abraham Ankers, Joe Anderson, Adam Tipungwuti.
Gold Coast – Sean Lemmens, Tom Nicholls, Jack Leslie, Will Brodie, Sam Day, Fitzroy Greenwool.