Thunder vs Swans in Round 17

Swans teach young Thunder a tough lesson

23.07.17 09:53

by Murray Silby

Before the match, it was billed as a David versus Goliath type of battle, the part-timers from the Northern Territory with their youngest side of the season up against the power and professionalism of an AFL club, and on this occasion it was Goliath who was singing the victory song after the game.

Unfortunately for NT Thunder, its youthful exuberance wasn’t enough to match the Sydney Swans’ squad of 18 AFL-listed players, losing their Round 17 NEAFL match by 146 points, 4.4 (28) to 25.24 (174).

Playing the curtain raiser on the SCG before the Swans’ AFL game against St Kilda, the visiting Thunder players could have been excused for thinking they’d accidentally run out for the main event when lining up opposite the likes of high profile stars such as Kurt Tippett, Aliir Aliir and Michael Talia.

The Swans set the tone for the match in the opening term, kicking four goals to Thunder’s none.

Thunder could only manage four behinds for the quarter, missing some gettable opportunities only adding to the pain.

Rotating between the ruck and the forward line, Tippett is trying to work his way back into the Swans’ AFL side after a series of injuries and did his chances no harm by kicking two of the home side’s majors in the opening quarter. He would finish with five for the match. Will Hayward (a game high six for the match) and James Rose kicked the others.

It wasn’t until the 24th minute of the second term that Thunder managed to get something in the goals column on the scoreboard and it was the ever reliable Darren Ewing, the league’s leading goal-kicker. He followed up with another after the siren.

But three goals to the Swans, shared among Jordan Dawson, Hayward and Tippett meant the quarter-time margin of 24 points had grown to 45 by half-time.

If the Swans had managed to kick straighter than the 4.9 they did the deficit could have been much greater. Unfortunately for Thunder though, that was to happen in the third term.

The third quarter was almost completely dominated by Sydney, with the Swans capitalising on the huge advantage they held in possession and time spent inside their 50-metre arc.

Thunder managed to add two more goals to their tally through Jack Shannahan and Ewing, but that’s where the joy ended.

The Swans, in contrast, added a further 10 goals through nine goal scorers.

Dawson was the only multiple goal-kicker for the term and he added his second after the three-quarter-time siren to make Sydney’s lead a neat, yet unpleasant – for Thunder fans – 100 points at the final change.

Thunder’s pain wasn’t over however, it didn’t manage to score in the final term, but Sydney did, adding 7.4.

To say it was a tough day at the office for the Thunder players is to suggest some bushwalking experience is required to climb Mount Everest.

Forced to make eight changes from the previous week’s victory over Aspley, the squad lost a huge amount of experience through the loss of the likes of captain Shannon Rioli, his brother Ben, Richard Tambling and Ryan Smith, not to mention clearance specialist Abraham Ankers and centre-half-forward Hugo Drogemuller.

“It’s always tough when you have eight changes, at any stage, but when you come up against a top side, it’s never easy,” Thunder coach Andrew Hodges said.

“Sydney was amazing, I guess it’s ability to put pressure on the ball carrier and use it when it was in hand was first class and our boys got a bit of a lesson today.”

Hodges said his squad has to regroup in time for next week’s clash against Southport in Darwin.

“We’ve got to go away and have a really good review of it,” he said, “but we probably allowed them to have too much space with the footy and they dictated terms a lot and obviously we need to do a fair bit of work with our young guys.

“The Swans, there was 18 listed players out there, professional athletes today. They were pretty good so we’ve got to try and fix up some areas and get ourselves ready for Southport next week.

Hodges said that despite the disappointment of the loss to Sydney, reinforcements are likely to arrive in time for the Southport game.

“We’ve potentially got eight blokes available this week, which will be great, but we need to recover, train well and prepare for Southport next week,” he said.

RESULT

Sydney 4.4, 8.13, 18.20, 25.24 (174)

NT Thunder 0.4, 2.4, 4.4, 4.4 (28)

GOALS

Sydney: Will Hayward 6, Kurt Tippett 5, James Rose 3, Jordan Dawson 3, Tyrone Leonardis 2, Ben Ronke, Sam Fisher, Harry Marsh, Toby Pink, Joshua Stern, Aliir Aliir.

NT Thunder: Darren Ewing 3, Jack Shannahan.

BEST

Sydney: Jordan Dawson, Kurt Tippett, Will Hayward, Sam Fisher, Harry Marsh, Jordan Foote, Aliir Aliir.

NT Thunder: Cameron Ilett, Sam Smith, Daniel Weetra, Neil Vea Vea, Darren Ewing, Thomas Davies, Braedon McLean.