The Press Box - Episode 19
The Examiner’s Rob Shaw, Brian Allen, Josh Partridge and Ben Hann unpack and discuss all the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
Transcript
00:00 (upbeat music)
00:02 - Welcome to episode 19 of the Press Box
00:09 The Examiner's weekly sportscast.
00:11 It's a huge week of footy as most of the local competitions
00:15 head into finals.
00:16 Big shout out to our two photographers,
00:17 Rod Thompson and Paul Scambler.
00:19 They've been producing more films
00:21 than Steven Spielberg this week.
00:22 So we'll have plenty of overlay
00:25 as the guys start talking footy.
00:26 Brian, you're gonna kick us off.
00:28 Talk us through the NTFA.
00:29 - It was fantastic, Rob.
00:30 And yeah, just to probably to start with,
00:33 just the crowd numbers.
00:34 I think there was 1500 plus at Youngtown Oval on Saturday
00:39 and then there was about 2000 plus at Longford on Sunday.
00:42 So yeah, just a lot of people are really excited
00:47 and it's just gonna be a big month of footy.
00:49 So the Longford v Bracknell game was,
00:55 it was the Carlton Collingwood type rivals,
00:57 20 minutes between the towns.
01:00 It promised to be a good game despite the fact
01:04 that Longford finished 16 premiership points clear
01:07 of Bracknell.
01:08 So there was a fair bit between them on the ladder,
01:11 really between that fourth and fifth,
01:12 but gee, Bracknell came to play
01:15 and Josh Holland, a guy that's played
01:18 more than 450 senior games.
01:20 And it was his final game
01:22 'cause he told us he was retiring this season.
01:26 And he's 40 and he just played out of his skin.
01:29 He took one out of marks, he kicked three goals
01:32 and I just love what he brought to the table
01:35 and he nearly won it for them off his own boot.
01:38 But in fairness to Longford,
01:40 they played probably a bit more consistently
01:42 across the day and their big moments came
01:45 in the last couple of minutes.
01:47 So Connor Alexander, the fullback,
01:49 he took a big kind of contested mark in the back pocket.
01:53 It was a bit like Leo Barry's U-Star,
01:56 Leo Barry U-Star moment from the 2005 Sydney
02:01 Grand Final win in the AFL.
02:04 And then there was this moment where Lockie Dakin
02:07 was at half forward for the Tigers.
02:08 He kicked the ball towards the goals,
02:10 landed short about the top of the goal square,
02:13 was bouncing, looked like it would bounce
02:18 through the points.
02:19 It's done the Shane Warne sort of leg spin,
02:21 bounced sort of the other way back towards the goals.
02:24 A couple of players pursued it.
02:26 It got out to Connor Pierten from the Tigers in the pocket
02:29 and he snapped it over his shoulder
02:30 and that made it a 10 point win in the end.
02:34 And that was great.
02:35 And then just quickly on the South Launceston
02:37 Roach Relay match, it was another cracker.
02:42 The Bulldogs, I felt, winning favourites,
02:47 but the big things to look out for were
02:50 like the Jordan Cousins and Jay Blackberry battle
02:53 with Cousins being from Roach Relay
02:55 and Blackberry being from South.
02:57 And they didn't really play on each other.
03:01 They were spotted side by side at times,
03:03 but they probably both got like 40 touches each,
03:06 both kicked terrific goals.
03:08 And that game was really won late in the third quarter
03:11 'cause it was kind of even scores.
03:12 And then South just kicked a few late in red time
03:14 in the third and it ended up being about 14,
03:17 16 points in the end.
03:19 - And obviously, mate, you mentioned that game.
03:21 I suppose South now go on and play Hillwood
03:23 for a spot in the grand final this weekend.
03:25 I suppose, how good is that game of footy gonna be?
03:28 - It's gonna be fantastic because Hillwood finished first
03:32 and they were flying in the first half of the season.
03:35 They had a little dip sort of through the colder months,
03:38 but then as coach Jake Pierce has said
03:41 that they fair better on the dry ground.
03:44 And so they sort of picked up again
03:47 and then they had a good win against Longford
03:49 late in the year.
03:50 And so they're in form, South are in form
03:55 and it's at Bridge North,
03:58 which hasn't had a final in many years,
04:00 they've not hosted finals in many years.
04:02 So it's a very hard one to pick.
04:05 And I suppose that, yeah, we'll wait and see.
04:10 I guess, yeah, South were able to hold off Rochelle
04:12 in a really impressive way
04:13 and that's gonna hold them in good stead,
04:15 but Hillwood are probably gonna be good for the break.
04:17 - I think that's the understatement of the year
04:19 that South are in form there, mate.
04:21 They've been pretty good this year.
04:22 They haven't lost for quite a while.
04:24 What was it?
04:25 Have they lost in between?
04:26 - No, they've had a draw.
04:28 So I believe they've been undefeated since round six,
04:33 which I feel may have coincided
04:36 when Jay Blackberry started playing again
04:39 after a bit of a break.
04:40 - And Ben, you had a huge weekend at Ben TFA as well,
04:42 didn't you?
04:43 - Yeah, yeah, it was a lot happening.
04:46 Women's football was all played on the Saturday.
04:48 So I'll start off with that.
04:49 Deloraine knocked off the Ender Valley.
04:52 That's their first loss for the season, Division One.
04:55 They're not out of the finals yet.
04:58 They'll play in Georgetown at the newly refurbished
05:02 Blue Gum Park, which will hopefully be a cracking contest
05:06 to then hopefully for them,
05:08 play Deloraine in the grand final and get revenge.
05:10 In the Premier, we've now got the other semi-final,
05:16 obviously Old Scotch played South Launceston
05:18 and beat them at Young Town Oval.
05:21 And they'll now await the loser of Bridge North and OLs,
05:26 which is actually out at Parrot Park on Saturday.
05:29 So really great for the club to get a home final.
05:32 The men though, it was really big weekend of footy.
05:35 Two games that had a lot in it that probably,
05:40 they weren't the closest games ever.
05:42 Old Scotch were way too good, I thought,
05:43 for St. Pat's put the cue in the rack in the last quarter.
05:45 Which is only the reason why they finished five goals ahead.
05:48 They were a lot further ahead.
05:50 They've got to be clear favorites in my opinion.
05:54 And then Lillie Dale, thanks to a lot of really good
05:58 performances, but especially of Thayne Barden-Hagan,
06:00 who kicked three goals in the first half,
06:04 at least 40 touches, just was absolutely everywhere.
06:07 And the style of goals and just general play
06:11 that he was producing was, yeah, very rarely seen
06:14 in this sort of level.
06:16 It was really something to behold.
06:18 So they will now play St. Pat's after the first round
06:23 of finals, which they only lost by four points.
06:25 So you can only hope it's going to be a game
06:27 of similar quality.
06:29 And that is out at Bligham Park as well.
06:32 - It's really interesting, two of the blokes
06:34 that you've mentioned, Josh Holland, Thayne Barden-Hagan,
06:36 they both step up in big games.
06:38 I mean, Josh Holland, he's won nearly every
06:40 best on ground medal there is to win in a grand final.
06:43 And Thayne as well, just steps up.
06:45 I mean, you're mentioning quality footballers
06:47 that just know when to play good footing.
06:49 - Yeah, I think Lillie Dale probably best at that
06:51 more than anyone else.
06:52 She's got this really experienced core.
06:54 Corey Lockett said it as much, the Lillie Dale coach,
06:57 that Thayne just knows how to play finals,
07:00 play like that.
07:00 Sonny Whiting, you just even look at him,
07:02 he only really put his influence in the game
07:05 for 10 minutes, but it was the first 10 minutes of the game
07:06 where he kicked two and set up a third.
07:08 And already Lillie Dale had this three goal lead
07:11 and Perth are on the back foot, this young Perth team
07:14 who probably need to recruit a couple more players
07:18 to come in to really bridge that gap between fourth and third.
07:22 But yeah, I can't think of a way to turn a sad past
07:24 and let Dale, it's gonna be a really close game.
07:26 - Yeah.
07:26 So it's also a big weekend for the junior footies.
07:29 So all the junior finals were held out at York Park,
07:33 Utah Stadium in the NTJFA.
07:35 So it was great for the kids to get their moment
07:37 in the spotlight on the big stage as well.
07:39 And we got video from that.
07:41 State League haven't got to finals yet,
07:43 but obviously it's a business end of the season, Josh.
07:45 - Yeah.
07:46 So funnily enough, even though Lonnie lost on the weekend,
07:49 they were able to lock in their final spot
07:50 due to other results.
07:53 They went down to Lauderdale by 26 points.
07:55 It was really good to see Lauderdale.
07:57 They've got the buy this week.
07:59 So they finished their season with a win
08:00 and they've got a really strong top tier.
08:02 So it was, I guess, good to see them get that win
08:05 over Launceston as much as that sucks
08:07 for the Northern Tasmanian region.
08:09 But yeah, so Lonnie had really strong first
08:12 and last quarters, but just weren't able
08:13 to get the job done in the middle
08:16 where Lauderdale's class went over the top
08:18 of the young Launceston side,
08:20 which I didn't think I'd be saying this time last year,
08:22 given, I guess, how strong they've been in the past.
08:25 And then down South, North Launceston defeated
08:29 Glenorchy by 102 points.
08:31 So they had a pretty good win on the weekend.
08:34 - How do you see the finals shaping up?
08:36 - It's going to be an interesting one.
08:37 I think, so the first final sees Kingborough host
08:42 North Launceston and basically the winner
08:45 of that game gets the grand final in their region.
08:48 So if North can get the win there
08:50 and get the grand final on Utah's stadium,
08:52 it bodes really well for their finals chances.
08:55 And Lonnie, they've lost a lot of top tier talent
08:59 and it's going to be really tough,
09:01 especially going down and facing Clarence
09:03 on their home deck in the elimination final.
09:06 But you can never count Launceston out,
09:09 especially under coach Mitch Thorpe.
09:11 - So the interesting contrast this time of year
09:13 between the mentality of footy and the mentality of soccer
09:16 in that footy is all building up towards finals.
09:18 Soccer is purely about first past the post.
09:21 So soccer from the weekend,
09:23 most of the titles have already been decided.
09:25 Devonport have won the men's,
09:27 South Hobart have won the women's.
09:28 It's interesting in the state league,
09:30 Launceston United hosted Riverside Olympic
09:33 and Lonnie United finally got their first point
09:35 of the season and it came in the 97th minute
09:38 of the 19th game that they had played.
09:40 So Riverside were holding onto a one nil win
09:43 and United fully deserved to get a very late equalizer.
09:47 And it was great for them to get on the board.
09:49 It's been such a tough season for them
09:51 and they'll be so much better place next season.
09:54 The other thing, interesting thing we did this week,
09:57 we caught up with Ricky Ponting.
09:59 Ricky's been a great supporter of the Examiner
10:00 for many, many years.
10:02 He's hosted our junior sport in the past.
10:04 We launched his book when he did an autobiography.
10:06 He's always had a great relationship with the paper
10:09 and he found time when he was in town this week
10:10 to catch up with us.
10:11 He had, as always, he had plenty to say.
10:13 He's always good for opinions, this Rick.
10:15 Probably the strongest thing he had to say,
10:17 he was very outspoken during the Ashes series
10:19 and the last test at the Oval about the ball change.
10:22 And he's had plenty to say about it since then.
10:25 Well, he's now convinced that not only was it probably
10:28 a five-year-old ball used by mistake,
10:30 but he suspects the English may have known about it.
10:32 So he's not averse to a bit of controversy as Rick.
10:35 Here's what he had to say.
10:36 - I don't think it was the same ball.
10:38 I don't mind going on record and saying it.
10:39 I don't think it was a 2023 cricket ball that was used
10:42 after they changed.
10:43 My record was a mixer and they ended up using
10:45 a 2018 ball on that last day.
10:48 - So you're not critical of the English,
10:49 you're critical of the umpires.
10:50 - It's got nothing to do with the English at all.
10:53 I mean, the only thing I could be critical with them there
10:55 is if they actually knew that it was,
10:57 which they might've and didn't say anything.
11:01 - So I suppose, you know, with that review,
11:04 do you think we'll ever see the result of that Duke's review
11:07 and do you think that in any way sort of taints
11:11 the way the series ended?
11:14 - That's a very good question.
11:15 And that's exactly what Ponting was asking.
11:18 He basically said that it doesn't need a full investigation.
11:21 He said every ball has got the date
11:23 that it was manufactured on the side of it.
11:24 So he said whoever's got that ball
11:26 could just solve all this now.
11:27 Just say, look, it says 2023, end of discussion.
11:31 He doesn't know if the ball was taken by Stuart Broad
11:33 because it was his final test match
11:35 or it just went back into a box somewhere
11:37 and is now in a bit as hard to get out of England
11:41 as the wheel ashes.
11:42 So it could be resolved really quickly,
11:45 but I don't think it will.
11:47 And who knows, there might be a reason behind that.
11:49 - Oh, who knows?
11:50 - Yeah.
11:51 So anyway, that's a very busy week for all of us this week.
11:55 Another busy week coming up,
11:56 footy finals again this weekend.
11:58 Thanks for tuning in and see you next week.
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