Tigers beat Pumas in another scrap

The Tigers hosted the Springwood Pumas at the Den for the second time this year in perfect winter conditions in another much needed contest to keep the season momentum tracking along.

The Pumas welcomed back one of their stars in Jai Kennealy from interstate to play this game. They have been going through a difficult period with injuries limiting their squad while the Tigers have also been down on numbers. Both clubs had nobody left across their senior playing groups as we hit the middle of the season.

The Tigers however are still pleased that their depth is holding strong at this stage and opportunities are arising for more games for their younger cohort.

The first term saw both sides come out firing as they traded blows through the middle of the ground before the Tigers kicked the first major through Xavier Craven. It wasn’t long before the Pumas responded through the big boot of Kennealy to get them up and going.

It was goal for goal throughout the term with Digby Morison getting into the action with a big mark and goal to start his account. He followed it up again as did Keneally.

The quarter finished with Ryan Doolan opening his account after a very tough period as he did battle with the Pumas Captain Brighton Paige.

The Tigers went to the first break with a two goal advantage but it was the usual physical battle between these two good sides.

The battle continued into the second term with each team’s defence standing strong. The Tigers have been without James Stolz for a few weeks so it was very good to see his intercept work back in action while Hayden Fry, Daniel Schmidt and Kyle Henry were strong in the air and across the back half. Noah Breen was very busy as the men’s department went about their work.

Jack Collings was very busy in the middle against old foe Brandon Stewart as usual in and under as the Tigers big man Jamie Ivers went to work in the ruck. Ivers was particularly effective around the ground with his marking and ground work a feature of a very good day as he created opportunities for his followers.

The Tigers extended their lead to four goals at the main break as they gradually pulled away, however it wasn’t easy with the Pumas doing their best to penetrate the Tigers blanketing defence.

The second half was a very entertaining period where the Tigers slowly slipped further ahead but the way the game was playing out you would not have expected to see the difference in scores.

The Pumas put in a lot of attention to the Tigers spearhead in Ryan Doolan in the first half but he was able to ultimately break loose to finish with six goals for the game despite his usual foils in Zac Quin and Zac McLean being absent again.

While the Tigers were missing the two Zac’s, the experienced Eddie Mallan created havoc clean bowling his way through packs to open the forward line up and create opportunities for his team mates in his customary fashion.

The Tigers kicked away in the last term to a very good win sharing the goal kicking across eight players in a hard fought win.

The Caloundra Panthers beat the UQ Red Lions yesterday at Caloundra in an unexpected result which puts the Tigers two games clear on the top of the ladder. The Tigers are on 32 points, the Red Lions on 24, Caloundra on 20 and Springwood on 16 to make up the top four.

The Tigers will play the Sandgate Hawks at Lemke Road next week.

Scores: Mayne 16.11.107 d Springwood 9.9.63

Goals:  Ryan Doolan 6, Jasper Craven 2, Nick Galvin, Xavier Craven, Jack Collings, Jamie Ivers, Eddie Mallan, Rhys Syrett 1.

Best: Eddie Mallan, Ryan Doolan, Digby Morison, James Stolz, Jamie Ivers, Hayden Fry.