Richard Tambling runs through the middle

Thunder blows Giants away

27.05.17 22:32

by Murray Silby

NT Thunder has dominated an undermanned Giants side winning their Round 9 NEAFL match at TIO Stadium in Darwin on Saturday night by 55 points, 18.18 (126) to 11.5 (71).

Wearing a jumper featuring Clinton Gaykamangu’s “Wolma” design for the NEAFL’s Indigenous Round, Thunder jumped out to a 25-point lead at quarter time.

The home side may have been missing captain Shannon Rioli, who was suspended, ruckman Neil Vea Vea, who withdrew in the warm up with knee soreness and the league’s leading goal-kicker in Adam Sambono, who was absent through representative duties, but it still had three-time NEAFL leading goal-kicker Darren Ewing and champion utility Cameron Ilett.

Ewing chimed in with two first quarter goals and Ilett set the tone of the match for Thunder starting in the centre.

Each of Ewing’s goals was classic Ewing. The first was through hard work to lose his opponent Jake Stein after a number of leads before taking the mark and goaling from the set shot, while the second was also from a set shot after protecting the drop zone by using his body perfectly to out-maneuver Stein to take the mark.

Ewing would go on to kick six and was in sparkling form, but could have had more if not for some uncharacteristic misses during the match.

Boof goes for goal

The Giants managed to limit Thunder to three goals in the second term – two to Ilett and one more to Ewing, but were only able to add one themselves through Baily McParland.

The second quarter might have been a bit dour, although Thunder was still able to increase its lead to 39 points, but the third was anything but with the two sides kicking 12 goals between them.

Just a couple of minutes into the term Southern Districts’ 17-year-old talent Beau Schwarze opened the action by scoring his first goal in his first game for Thunder, but that started a run of three successive majors for the Giants.

The boys get around Beau Schwarze

Shaun Driscoll provided two of them, separated by one to Rhyce Pollock. They brought the margin back to 28 points and a comeback looked possible.

Thunder hit back though with its own hat-trick as Ewing, Ilett and Jake Roe-Duggan sent the Giants’ deficit beyond 40 points.

Mathew Walker notched up his third to interrupt the home side’s scoring spree, before Lachlan Collihole, Ewing with his fifth and Hugo Drogemuller set it going again.

Zachary Sproule added one at the end of the quarter, but by then Thunder’s lead was 51 points and any hopes the Giants had of winning the match had shrunk.

The scoring levelled out in the final term with each team adding three of their own.

Ewing notched up his sixth, Collihole his third and Coombes his first while for the visitors Walker added his fourth and team-mates Nathan Coxall and Daniel Foley got themselves onto the scoreboard for the first time.

Giants coach Brad Miller said he was particularly pleased with the way his side fought out the match, as indicated by the final term.

“Right up until the last five minutes I thought the guys just continued to crack in and try and win the contested footy and tackle the opposition,” he said. “I think we ended up winning the clearances in the last quarter so really pleased with their second half and their combative and competitive spirit.”

When Thunder was beaten by Brisbane in Round 2, the Lions fielded 19 AFL-listed players, but Miller said injuries to the Giants’ senior team has depleted its NEAFL side, forcing it to play plenty of youngsters.

“We went in with three listed players and two of them are rookies so we knew we were pretty light on for AFL-listed numbers but it just gave those players, who have played with the Academy throughout the year an opportunity so we just tried to preach the message that the scoreboard was unimportant tonight, the way that they played was how I was going to judge them post game and I thought they fought it out right until the end.”

The Giants’ numbers were thinned further in the third quarter when Jai Reed was carried from the field with a knee injury.

“It was a shame to lose him, particularly in the hot conditions,” Miller said. “It was really tough to play with only three on the bench, but like I said to the guys, they didn’t really seem to show it. Guys that probably haven’t seen that much senior footy and playing around the ball just seemed to fight it out.”

Thunder coach Andrew Hodges said he was pleased that his side was able to maintain its early momentum from the first quarter.

“A good performance. We started really well and kept the pressure on the opposition for most of the game, which created opportunities for us, which we’re really happy about and I think our efficiency rate in front of goal was probably not quite what we’d have liked it to be, but it was still better than other weeks so we’re pretty happy,” he said.

“It doesn’t matter who you come up against in this competition there are no easy games so we had to be on our game. Losing Vea Vea late wasn’t ideal but in the end, Josh Cheek, who came in, played his role really well and first-gamer Beau Schwarze played his role and kicked a goal so it was good to have those two guys perform tonight, which was really great.

Josh Cheek hassles his opponent

“Lachy (Collihole) was good. He was up and about, took some marks and kicked three goals and then he went to a wing late in the game and was pretty lively up there as well so pretty happy with his performance after a week off.”

Hodges said it was a fine performance from all his players, but a couple of veterans had really set the tone for the game.

“We thought we had contributors right across the board. Boof (Darren Ewing) was back to his normal self and kicking goals and Cameron (llett) led from the front in the middle and Ben Rioli was our captain tonight and he did really well down back. Sam Smith across half-back, we thought he was fantastic as well.”

Thunder has built up some handy momentum now with three successive victories, but next week faces Sydney University, which is second on the ladder behind the Sydney Swans by percentage only.

“Sydney Uni is a fantastic side,” Hodges said. “They’re one of the top two sides for a reason and are going to be a big challenge even though it’s at home.

“So we’re going to recover over the next few days and do a good job at that and then prepare for that next Saturday night. I think the boys are really looking forward to seeing where we’re at with respect to those two sides.”


RESULT

NT Thunder 5.7, 8.11, 15.12, 18.18 (126)
Giants 2.0, 3.2, 8.3, 11.5 (71)

GOALS

NT Thunder: Darren Ewing 6, Cameron Ilett 3, Lachlan Collihole 3, Jack Shanahan, Damian Williams, Beau Schwarze, Jake Roe-Duggan, Hugo Drogemuller, Michael Coombes.
Giants: Mathew Walker 4, Shaun Driscoll 2, Baily McPharland, Rhyce Pollock, Zachary Sproule, Nathan Coxall, Daniel Foley.

BEST

NT Thunder : Cameron Ilett, Samuel Smith, Abraham Ankers, Lachlan Collihole, Ryan Smith, Ben Rioli, Darren Ewing.
Giants: Zachary Sproule, Matthew Flynn, Harry Annear, Shaun Driscoll, Mathew Walker, Rhys Pollock, William Clark.