The Examiner’s Rob Shaw, Brian Allen, Josh Partridge and Ben Hann unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
Category
🥇
SportsTranscript
00:00 [Music]
00:07 Welcome to episode 21 of the Press Box The Examiner's weekly sportscast.
00:12 As you'd expect in mid-September, we're all suffering from footy finals fever.
00:16 Lots going on footy-wise at the weekend.
00:18 Ben, you're going to kick us off. You had a big day with the NTFA.
00:21 Yeah, it was a great day. It was unbelievable weather.
00:24 And UTAS Stadium was just in great condition across the day.
00:28 So the footy was marvellous.
00:30 Started off at 9.30 in the morning with the women.
00:33 Deloraine in just their third year in existence winning in their first ever final series a grand final.
00:40 Yeah, against I suppose Western rivals, Meander Valley.
00:44 And then in the reserves and seniors it was Old Scotch doing the double over St. Pat's,
00:49 the old school rivals, to, you know, to claim two premierships in one day, which is quite something.
00:55 I joined you for the day. It was quite a good, it was good to see York Park being utilised for what it was meant for.
01:00 Yeah, absolutely. And there was, you know, another doubles game the day after,
01:05 which means there were four games this weekend. There's going to be six games next weekend.
01:09 So it's getting, it's getting its full use over these next two weeks.
01:13 But the oval just holds up so well.
01:15 Yeah.
01:16 Ben, with the men's Div 1 grand final between Old Scotch and St. Pat's,
01:21 I understand you felt there was a couple of players that were just a bit of a cut above.
01:25 Yeah, yeah. So Old Scotch, it's no secret, they've got probably the two best players in the competition.
01:30 It proved as such in the vote count the day after in John McKenzie and Fletcher Seymour.
01:35 I mean, Fletcher probably had about maybe 50 touches, probably could have kicked about six goals.
01:41 He actually said after the game that he was disappointed with how he was kicking in front of goal,
01:47 but he was just so much better. I think, you know, obviously unsurprising given he was a best and fairest at TSL level.
01:55 And John McKenzie too, they seem to have this intrinsic link on the field.
01:59 He's obviously a former BFL player. So yeah, wonderful performances from those two.
02:04 And you had a busy Saturday as well, Brian. Talk us through your day.
02:07 Yeah. So just to start with, with the NTFA W,
02:11 OLs have progressed to the grand final to play Bridge North, which should be an absolute cracker.
02:17 It is OL's fourth grand final appearance in a row. And I think it might be Bridge North's maiden one.
02:24 So yeah, fantastic there. OLs beat Old Scotch in the prelim.
02:30 And in the men's we had Road Tralee, sort of somewhat of a surprise and upset,
02:37 defeated South Launceston after they fell to South in the qualifying final a couple of weeks ago.
02:43 They turned it around and they won big. They won by about 50 points.
02:46 So it was, yeah, it was a very impressive performance.
02:50 And Rochellea have obviously got some stars, mate. I suppose who was up and about on Saturday for them?
02:55 Yeah, I've made a lot of Zane Brown, but I just, you know, I really value forwards in footy.
03:02 And it's because they don't get a lot of sort of that, they don't get as much access to the ball as a midfielder.
03:09 And I guess when, if you're a forward that can make the most of your opportunities,
03:13 I feel like that's probably more valuable than a, you know, 25 plus mid, possession mid.
03:19 So the way he like attacked the ball and tackled and kicked four goals and it was a really windy day.
03:28 So the way he kind of knew how to manage the wind when kicking for goal was really impressive.
03:33 And I firmly believe he's been the player of the final so far. So, yeah, he was really good.
03:39 And you spent the whole day at Georgetown. You've previously done a finals day at Bridgnorth.
03:43 So you've been to two of the best named venues in Northern Tasmania in Parrot Park and Blue Gum Park.
03:49 How do you think the concept of taking finals out to regional venues for the NTFA, how's that going?
03:54 Yeah, yeah. So also been to Hillwood and Yonge Town Oval, Southside Oval.
04:01 So, and I also went to lots of the different ovals last year.
04:05 So the league, yes, has gone with the concept of we're taking the finals out to the community.
04:10 And yes, I of course think that's great, but I'm also a bit critical of it because I feel, I just feel like on Saturday,
04:21 we had the NTFA Premier Preliminary Finals and none of the teams were Georgetown teams.
04:28 And this isn't a criticism of Georgetown or how they ran the day or anything.
04:34 And the deck out there is fantastic, the grass, as we have well known.
04:40 But it just, yeah, it was just one of those things where I reckon the NTFA and local footy and AFL footy,
04:47 everyone is just absolutely encapsulated by it right now. The crowd figures are right up.
04:52 Yeah.
04:53 There's this hunger for live sport, live theatre, live events.
04:57 So it's a purple patch.
05:00 And I just felt that with, they were pretty much all, let's say in town teams.
05:06 I think it was also Bridge North and Longford in the resi.
05:10 So they, everyone travelled to Georgetown to play that game.
05:15 And yeah, this is just unfortunate luck, but it was extremely windy and that really impacted the skills in the senior game.
05:23 And this was two sides that are like, have got some really good ex-TSL players, are very skilful normally.
05:29 And a lot of the ball was on the wing and it was going out of bounds a lot.
05:33 And, you know, great effort to Roche-Relief for just managing the conditions better.
05:38 But I just, I guess I felt there would have been a bigger crowd, a much bigger crowd if it was in and around Launceston, like the venue.
05:47 And just, you know, obviously you can't control things like with the wind, but I don't think it was as windy as in Launceston, for example.
05:55 So, you know, that probably would have made it a bit better spectacle.
05:59 So yeah, that was just my thoughts.
06:01 It's likely that they will probably increase the 6,000 they had last year's group.
06:06 I was at Scott Rigby said at least the other day.
06:09 How cool is it to see eight different clubs represented this coming Saturday in the four games?
06:15 Oh, it's awesome. It's incredible.
06:18 Like eight different clubs. This is like my message to this community.
06:22 Get 10,000 there on Saturday. Don't aim for 6,000 or 6,500.
06:28 Like I think the weather is relatively good. I think it's a top of 17.
06:32 Not too much. I don't think there's a high chance of rain.
06:36 Like there's basically no excuse.
06:38 As I'm saying, the local football is going through a purple patch.
06:44 The teams in it are very strong in terms of comparative to the NTFA in the past.
06:52 And there's like eight different teams.
06:55 So that's eight different groups of people that will go along and support these clubs.
07:01 So get 10,000 there and aim for that because I actually firmly believe that's very possible.
07:10 Yeah. And traditional breeding ground for the NTFA is the TSL, Josh.
07:15 How did that go at the weekend?
07:17 Yeah, so we'll start off with the qualifying final.
07:20 Kingborough defeated North Launceston to qualify for the grand final,
07:23 which means it'll be held at North Hobart Oval for the first time since 2019 that it's been down in Hobart.
07:29 So it'll be interesting to see how the grand final unfolds on North Hobart.
07:33 But Kingborough kicked, it was either seven or eight goals in the third quarter.
07:37 And that really, you kick eight goals in a quarter, you win a game of footy. Simple as that.
07:41 And then the other game saw Launceston's final series and their run of three premierships finish.
07:48 They got soundly defeated by Clarence.
07:51 Coach Mitch Thorpe just basically admitted they weren't really ready
07:55 and just a bit overawed by the situation having 16 finals debutantes was a bit too much for them really.
08:01 You went to the state league, sorry, the rep game at North Hobart Oval.
08:05 Is Belleve out of action because of cricket?
08:07 I believe so. We haven't received anything official on that, but that's what I believe to be the reason.
08:12 How do you think North Hobart Oval will go hosting the final?
08:15 I think when you have, you're going to have two really passionate fan bases no matter what.
08:20 It's going to be Kingborough, you'll get all of that kind of area of the south down there, down Kingston, all that area.
08:28 They'll come around and get around it.
08:30 And you'll either have North Launceston or Clarence.
08:32 So you'll have really strong fan bases there and I think it'll be really good viewing.
08:37 Should, with the game now at North Hobart Oval, does that give maybe North Launceston,
08:41 should they make it more of a chance to maybe knock off Kingborough?
08:44 Yes and no. North Hobart itself is actually a pretty similar oval to Kingborough's home ground, twin ovals.
08:52 It's very small, very compact.
08:54 Compared to Utah's out there, you can use all the space in the world and run around.
08:57 So it gives them more of a chance if it was to be played at twin ovals, but they are two very similar grounds.
09:04 So it'll be interesting to see how North can change their game and they certainly will be able to change their game, I think.
09:11 If they make the grand final, don't get me wrong. Sorry, sorry.
09:15 But yeah, it'll be interesting to see how things go.
09:18 And you split your day with your true love of hockey. How did that go?
09:22 Yep, so I went out to St Leonard's for the hockey grand finals and South Launceston continued their dominance of the competition.
09:28 They won last year, the men's and the women's, and they did it again on Saturday.
09:32 The women won 5-1 and the men won 4-2.
09:35 The scoreline in the men's probably wasn't reflective of the game itself.
09:39 I mean, South came out and they scored two goals early, then Kweechey returned with two and it was two all at three-quarter time.
09:45 And South coach Al McBain gave his side a bit of a rev up and they came out and scored the last two goals of the game.
09:51 But interestingly enough, Kweechey's goalkeeper, Nick Green, was actually named best player of the game.
09:57 So he made some cracking saves and really kept Kweechey in the contest for potentially longer than what they could have been.
10:04 But it was a really good game of hockey.
10:06 Good stuff. And just wrapping up the soccer, the home and away season finished at the weekend, but there is a final series.
10:13 I've noticed the clubs are fairly lukewarm about the final series.
10:16 Soccer has the mentality of first past the post and whoever wins in the NPL, Devonport are the champions this season.
10:24 They've been the best side, so even if they now lose in the finals, I'm not sure that the postseason finals are a particularly good idea.
10:31 They had their final end of season awards at the weekend as expected.
10:36 There were a couple of surprises to be honest.
10:39 I thought the NPL best and fairest would probably go to Roberto Guido.
10:42 It was actually won by Nick Morton at South Hobart.
10:45 He did score 20 goals from midfield. He's not a bad player.
10:48 And Guido finished up with the players' player golden boot and the media award.
10:52 So he didn't have a bad season.
10:55 And in the WSL, Devonport's Jasmine White won the best and fairest along with the golden boot.
11:01 And the media award went to South Hobart's Pishon Choi.
11:04 So looking ahead, Brian, NTFA grand finals.
11:08 Yeah, let's just run through them quickly.
11:10 So in the under 18s, in the boys, we've got Georgetown v Old Scotch at 9.15am.
11:16 These are all at Utah Stadium.
11:17 We've got Bridge North v Old Lancestonians and the women at 11.25am.
11:22 In the men's reserve, South Launceston v Longford at 1.20pm.
11:26 And in the senior men's, Hillwood v Rochelle at 4pm.
11:30 And note that 4pm is an unusual sort of twilight time.
11:34 That'll be your main game of the day.
11:36 Yes.
11:37 Late finish for you on Saturday.
11:38 Yes.
11:39 And Josh, TSL finals.
11:42 Yep. So North Launceston in the development league against, I think it's Lauderdale.
11:47 Feel free to write something across the bottom if I've stuffed that up.
11:50 And then later in the day, it is North Launceston v Clarence.
11:54 Both games at Utah Stadium.
11:56 Both looking to qualify for the grand finals.
11:58 Good stuff.
11:59 Final reminder to get your entries in for our junior sport.
12:02 We still need more entries.
12:03 We'll put the barcode up.
12:04 Let's put it over Ben's face just here.
12:06 Please scan the QR code to enter.
12:09 And a big shout out to two of the important members of the team that don't get a mention most weeks,
12:14 to Rob Thompson, our photographer, and Jay Kagatay.
12:17 They're really the brains of the outfit here.
12:19 Let's be honest.
12:20 Look at what they're up against.
12:21 They do the great job behind the scenes making us all look good so we can just rabbit on about football,
12:26 which is what we do all day anyway.
12:27 So thanks to those two guys for being a pivotal part of the operation.
12:31 Thanks for tuning in and see you next week.
12:34 [music]
12:43 [no audio]