It was back to Lowe Oval again for the second time in a little over a month to take on the 2023 Premiers the Springwood Panthers. The Panthers have been the only team to best the Tigers this season and their domination at Lowe Oval has seen most clubs leaving disappointed so there was plenty to prove this time around.
The Hart Sport QFA Division 1 competition is a tight affair and once again it was a very tight first term as both sides battled it out in close quarters. It was an arm wrestle until the first score some ten minutes into the game when the first point was scored. The Pumas drew first blood with a goal to Tom Jeffrey followed closely by the Tigers Hayden Fry playing his first game for the season, It was nip and tuck until red time when the Pumas broke loose to kick the final three for the term, all of them by Tom Jeffrey to round out four his quarter. It was clear that he needed some more attention.
The Pumas went to the first break with a ten point lead and with the momentum it looked ominous for the Tigers despite some great work from Jamie Ivers in the ruck and Beau Harris giving them some solid centre clearances.
The second term was once again a tight contest but there was a sense that the Tigers were slowly wearing the Pumas down. Jack Collings was working hard around the stoppages and Zac McLean was giving the Tigers a tall target up front despite plenty of attention. As always Jake Warren was giving the Tigers plenty of trouble while Rowan Paige seemed to be everywhere. The combined work of several Tigers to limit the damage they could do was going to be the key to the their success. Veteran Tiger Sam Paterson came into his own here as he attacked the contests with youthful vigour to tackle strongly and in turn give the Tigers plenty of hard ball.
The Tigers managed to close the deficit in the second term to go to the main break with a three point lead and with the game evenly poised it looked like it was going to be yet another fight to the end against the Pumas on their home fortress.
The Tigers had other ideas it seems as they took complete control of the game from the main break. The defence was resolute with James Stolz arresting the dominance of Tom Jeffrey completely and with their usual alternate target Jai Kennealy absent the men’s department prevailed. Will Brohm was superb with his precision kicks out of defence to give the Tigers plenty of attack out of the last line while Mitch Bruce, Digby Morison and Jimmy Aganas worked together to shut the Pumas out for the quarter.
Up front, Ryan Doolan was getting off the leash with some strong leads to straighten the Tigers up while Hayden Fry and Jamie Ivers were very dangerous tall timber when not operating in the ruck. The Tigers kicked away to a five goal lead at the last break and but for some errant kicking it could have been significantly more.
Zac McLean kicked the first goal of the last term and it seemed that they might run away at that point but the Pumas gave one final push to let the Tigers know they weren’t done yet. It came to little however as the Tigers really got on their bike with consecutive centre clearances highlighted by Jamie Ivers precise tapwork and Beau Harris streaming out with centre clearances.
Zac McLean was on the end of plenty as he accumulated five for the day which could have been several more with a couple of very uncharacteristic misses and several that he shared.
It was a very pleasing but rare win at Lowe Oval that the Tigers enjoyed which will be long remembered by all the Tiger faithful that have been to this venue over many years.
The Tigers hold on to top spot on percentage from the Coorparoo Kings and will host the Hinterland Blues next week at the Den which will be another tough encounter in the Division 1 competition.
Scores: Mayne 13.17.95 d Springwood 7.14.56 Goals: Z McLean 5, R Doolan 2, C Barber, J Stolz, B Wilkinson, R Eyles, J Ivers 1. Best: J Ivers, B Harris, J Stolz, Z McLean, W Brohm, H Fry.
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