In bitterly wet and cold conditions at UNSW Canberra Oval with the mercury nudging a miserable three degrees and the wind chill factor making it an effective minus two degrees, Thunder was never allowed to warm up by a blistering Canberra side in NEAFL’s Round 11 on Saturday night.
The visitors went down to the Demons by 65 points, 6.13 (49) to 17.12 (114).

It was a massive turnaround from the corresponding game last season when Thunder thrashed its host by 91 points and spearhead Darren Ewing kicked 10 goals.

Canberra opened the first quarter of Saturday night’s game with the first four goals, three of them within the first seven minutes.

Turnovers were costing the visitors dearly with each of the goals following Thunder errors.

As a result, Thunder was hardly able to get the ball into its forward half of the ground during the quarter and was held goalless, with the Demons taking a 25-point lead into the first change.

Canberra’s prime movers, who’ve helped lift the club into premiership contention, included Mitchell Maguire with 11 disposals and Thomas Highmore with 10.

Thunder vice-captain Abraham Ankers was doing his best to lift his side and had gathered 11 disposals by quarter time.

The second term looked like it would serve up more of the same for Canberra after Jack Powell scored after just three minutes, but Thunder replied with the next two goals to Ankers and Michael Mummery to reduce the margin to 15 points.

After making his Thunder debut as a 15-year-old in 2016, Mummery’s 2017 season was ruined by a serious illness, and his goal was reward for persistence in life let alone the match.

Lucas Meline added another before half-time for Canberra to make the margin 20 points at the long break, but Thunder appeared to have pulled itself back into contention.

That theory was blown out of the water in the third term though as the Demons piled on seven goals to none to drag the margin out to 65 points by three-quarter-time.

The Demons players were queuing up for their turn at a shot at goal too with the home side having 11 goal-kickers to that point of the game.
Thunder matched Canberra for scoring in the final term with both sides kicking four goals, but by then the damage had been done, and the Demons cruised to a 65-point victory, lifting the club into fourth place on the NEAFL ladder.

It was a disappointing night for Thunder coach Andrew Hodges who’d seen positive signs of greater consistency in the loss to Aspley the week before.

“It was just a substandard effort over the night and again two quarters let us down,” Hodges said.

“There were some individual performances I thought were pretty impressive. Abraham Ankers played out of his skin, and I thought the Rioli brothers (Ben and Shannon) tried really hard, but we had a lot of passengers over the night and not enough contributors, so it was pretty disappointing.

“Abe Ankers, I think he had 35 possessions (29 kicks, six handballs, four tackles) and had seven or eight clearances. I just think he was outstanding around the stoppages and worked really hard.

“Ben Rioli down back put his body on the line plenty of times and looked lively and I thought Shannon Rioli as captain led from the front and tried really hard, as well as Joe Anderson who, for the most of the night, was carrying an injury (hip) so I thought their effort was pleasing.”

Hodges was also pleased to see Mummery run out in the NT colours again after such a long absence from the team.

“We thought at times his energy around the contest was really good and he looked dangerous,” he said. “It was really good to have him back in the side.”

Although teams from the east coast often refer to the Top End heat as a major challenge when travelling to Darwin to play Thunder, Hodges wasn’t willing to claim Canberra’s freezing temperatures as a factor in the loss.

“We can’t blame the conditions, it was the same for the opposition,” he said.

“Whatever the conditions, we need to be able to come and play and give our best effort, so I don’t think it played a part.”

SCORES
CANBERRA: 4.2, 6.2, 13.8, 17.12 (114)
NT THUNDER: 0.1, 2.6, 2.9, 6.13 (49)

GOALS: Canberra – Jacob Turner 4, Lucas Meline, Isaac Taylor 2, Aaron Bruce, Thomas Faul, Ben Fulford, Mitchell Hardie, Jarrod Osborne, Jack Powell, Nathan Richards, Alex Smout, Sam Tonkes.
NT Thunder – Abraham Ankers, Darren Ewing, Michael Mummery, Tylah Saunders, Chris Williams, Ross Tungatalum.

BEST: Canberra – Alex Smouth, Mitch Maguire, Thomas Highmore, Isaac Taylor, Jacob Turner.
NT Thunder – Abraham Ankers, Ben Rioli, Joe Anderson, Shannon Rioli, Jack Monigatti.