By Murray Silby
NT Thunder went down by 56-points to the GWS Giants at TIO Stadium on Saturday night, losing in NEAFL’s Round 15, 7.11 (53) to 16.13 (109).
After showing great fight and promise over the past two weeks against top three sides Southport and Sydney, it was a disappointing result for Thunder, but in a positive sign, the home side played out the match to win the final quarter, despite being two players down for much of the game.
After feeling like the team was building to something in recent rounds, it was an unfortunate development for coach Darren Reeves.
“We’re bitterly disappointed, but it’s another learning opportunity for us,” he said.
“We were beaten by a pretty good footy side in the first half. That’s the only way to sum it up.
“We’ve been pretty pleased with our efforts over the last couple of weeks, but we were pretty disappointed with our effort in the first half tonight. We didn’t give ourselves our best chance by defending them, so we were a bit disappointed at half-time.
“We were outclassed, but I thought our effort in the second half was better. We fumbled some balls and missed some opportunities to score, but I thought our effort was better,” Reeves suggested.
GWS started the match quickly with three goals in 10 minutes to skip out to an 18-point lead.
A long range shot from Brodie Carroll after 13 minutes got Thunder on the board during a 10 minute period when it was able to dry up the Giants’ scoring.
That ended after 21 minutes though when a 50-metre penalty put Liam Delahunty within range. Zach Sproule followed up from a tight angle a couple of minutes later and GWS took a 23-point lead into the first break.
Thunder’s efforts in the first term weren’t helped by two shots, from Nigel Lockyer and Abraham Ankers, hitting the post, but its pressure from the past two weeks seemed to have fallen away by a degree.
When Delahunty kicked his second within a minute of the second quarter getting started, the GWS lead had stretched to 29 points and the Giants were looking imposing to say the least.Carroll kicked his second for Thunder five minutes later, but the Giants would kick another five of their own for the quarter.
Only Nate Paredes would kick another goal for Thunder in the term, leaving the home side trailing by 46 points at half-time.
Missed targets by hand and foot led to numerous turnovers and the visitors adding six goals to two in that term, but after half-time, Thunder was able to make it a tighter contest.
This was in spite of Thunder losing key backman Daniel Weetra (ankle), such an important player during the season, and crafty forward Dylan Barry (concussion), who has been one of the team’s most potent forwards, during the first half.
Although having the numerical advantage, the Giants would kick only two goals to the Thunder’s one in the third quarter.
It might have been worse though, given GWS also kicked eight behinds.
The third quarter is unlikely to become known for its abundant highlights, although there was one that stood out for Thunder fans.
They had to wait until after the three-quarter-time siren for it, but Tiwi Islander, and debutant, Jeffrey Simon, aided by a free kick and a 50-metre penalty, would kick his first NEAFL goal in his first game.
The Thunder fight back stalled in the first half of the final quarter though as things turned a little ugly early on.
GWS kicked the first three goals of the term, including Harry Grant’s fourth, having booted one in each quarter. That extended the Giants’ lead to 73 points.
Thunder didn’t evaporate in the face of the attack however, hitting back with the next three majors to Nate Paredes, Joel Stevens with his first NEAFL goal and Carroll’s third of the match.
“It doesn’t help, we lost, but I think the positive thing is the effort we gave in the second half,” Reeves said.
“That was the challenge at half-time. Bring greater effort. The scoreboard doesn’t matter, it’s about bringing greater effort collectively and doing the small things better and defending better and unfortunately they were really clean with ball in hand and really efficient and really well structured. They’ve got some top class talent obviously.
“It’s a great learning curve for our boys to see where they’ve got to get to, especially our young blokes.
“Earlier in the year we might have rolled over and got beaten by 90 points so the effort and attitude to just keep going was good. I think we won the last quarter so that’s a real positive.
“In the end, it’s not ideal, but the fact that we didn’t roll over and we kept giving great effort is a positive sign,” Reeves said.
NT THUNDER 1.3, 3.5, 4.7, 7.11 (53)
GWS GIANTS 5.2, 11.3, 13.11, 16.13 (109)
GOALS: NT Thunder – Brodie Carroll 3, Nate Paredes 2, Jeffrey Simon, Joel Stevens.
GWS Giants – Harry Grant 4, Liam Delahunty, Zach Sproule 3, Aiden Bonar 2, Kieren Briggs, Jackson Hately, Jackson Moen, James Peatling.
BEST: NT Thunder – Abraham Ankers, Ben Rioli, Jacob Templeton, Brodie Carroll, Nate Paredes, Jack Hannath.
GWS Giants – Jackson Hately, Nick Shipley, Jye Caldwell, Harry Grant, James Peatling, Aiden Bonar