By Murray Silby
It’s not so long ago that Canberra was considered one of the easier teams of the NEAFL competition to beat.
For example, in Round 12 last season Thunder beat the Demons by 91 points with Darren Ewing kicking 10 goals.
But the Demons are a different side this year.
To illustrate the point, just a month ago in Round 11, on a bitterly cold night in the capital that must have had the visitors from the Top End questioning their love of the game, Canberra defeated Thunder by 65 points with Ewing restricted to only the one goal and his team to six.
For Saturday night’s return clash in Round 16, Thunder will surely be hoping for Darwin’s TIO Stadium to be at its hot and humid best.
The Demons are third on the ladder, equal on points with top two Sydney and Southport, but trailing by percentage.
Thunder is second last, but still only two wins outside the top six and so still has plenty to play for.
Canberra’s engine room of Mitch Maguire, Alex Smout, Isaac Taylor and Jarrod Osborne are the driving force behind the Demons’ seven-game winning streak, providing most teams with too many options to cover.
Thunder’s best performing midfielder this season has been Abraham Ankers, who, after being handed the vice-captaincy at the start of the season and playing alongside experienced campaigners such as Shannon Rioli, Richard Tambling, Cameron Ilett and Joe Anderson has taken his play to another level.
“It (the vice-captaincy) makes you look at the game a little differently,” Ankers said. “You look at the team a bit differently and I think it’s helped me out and I’ve really loved it and taken it on board and I’ve learnt a lot.
“It’s been great working closely with Hodgey (coach Andrew Hodges) and under (captain) Shannon Rioli, someone who I greatly respect and admire. I’ve also had the privilege to learn off a few older heads around the group like Joey Anderson, Matty Campbell, Cam Ilett, (Darren) Boof Ewing and Richard Tambling.
“I learn off those guys week in week out so I’m pretty lucky to be able to play footy with them and to be able to take in everything they say and try and improve every week,” Ankers explained.
The 23-year-old leads the competition for contested possessions (84) over the past four rounds, hard ball gets (35), loose ball gets (33) and clearances (45).
Last weekend against Sydney he gathered 36 disposals (22 contested), 13 clearances, 12 inside 50s, four rebound 50s, a goal and seven MVP votes.
“I definitely try to work on all aspects of my game. I try to work on my competitive skills as well as my outside work,” Ankers said.
“There’s definitely room for improvement in my game and all aspects of it. I hope I’ve still got a lot of improving to do and that I’ll get a bit better and a bit more consistent towards the end of the year.”
Maguire leads the league’s MVP voting with 63 votes, fellow Demon Smout is fifth on 48 and Ankers ninth with 43.
Whichever team’s midfield prevails on Saturday night will win the game.
“They’re a quality side, they’re equal top for a reason,” Ankers concedes. “They’ve got a good midfield so we like playing sides like that, we love the challenge, we look forward to it, we embrace it so I’m sure we’ll lift our standards as they’ll lift theirs and hopefully it’ll be a really good game.”
NEAFL Round 16: NT Thunder v Canberra – 6:30pm Saturday 21 July, TIO Stadium, Darwin