The Examiner’s Rob Shaw, Josh Partridge, Brian Allen and Ben Hann unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
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00:00 (dramatic music)
00:02 - Welcome to episode 49 of the Examiner's Weekly Sportscast.
00:11 The Press Box.
00:12 Begin by saying happy birthday to Josh,
00:14 who's on the day off today,
00:16 but he loves this podcast so much
00:18 that he's come in on his day off.
00:19 - No rush, I'd rather be, Robert.
00:21 - Pleased to hear it, Josh.
00:22 We'll begin with the latest on the State League saga.
00:25 We've heard a lot from both the clubs,
00:26 Nonny and North, what they think of it.
00:28 It was nice yesterday to be able to catch up
00:30 with the Launceston captain, Brodie Porfuman,
00:32 who had quite a lot to say.
00:34 And he spoke really well, Brodie,
00:37 because he obviously knew that it was a bit of a hot potato
00:40 and we all put him on the spot a bit.
00:43 And he said, "I knew the questions were coming
00:44 "and we were ready for it."
00:46 So he said the lines about wanting to focus on footy,
00:48 but clearly all the players are talking about it.
00:51 And when I actually asked him the question,
00:52 "Where do you think you're gonna be playing next year?"
00:54 He said, "I've got no idea."
00:55 So I think that speaks volumes.
00:57 What do you boys think?
00:58 - Yeah, I had a read of your piece, Rob.
01:00 Originally, I thought that it should be a switch back
01:04 to the NTFL and North and Lonny playing against
01:08 the best of the Northwest Footy League.
01:11 So I was a bit surprised that they are not
01:14 that interested seemingly.
01:15 So yeah, as Brodie said, it looks like it's probably
01:19 just gonna be that North and Lonny do play
01:22 with the four NTFA sides that will go
01:25 into this Northern Premier League.
01:27 And I think that, yeah, essentially it's probably now
01:32 about, okay, let's make the Northern Premier League
01:34 the best competition it can be in 2025.
01:36 And clearly the evidence that keeps getting pointed to
01:41 is that this massive gap between North Launceston's
01:46 big win over Launceston in round one,
01:48 compared to Scottsdale's big loss in round one
01:52 in the NTFA Premier Division.
01:57 So given that that keeps being brought up as evidence
02:01 of how far is between the highest
02:05 and potentially lowest team,
02:07 well, let's work on that gap.
02:10 Like let's work on, obviously, Deloran and Scottsdale
02:15 are sort of in the bottom five
02:18 of the NTFA Premier Division this year.
02:21 What do you think?
02:22 - Let's do things, equalization measures.
02:25 Like everyone hates the salary gap in local footy
02:29 and obviously, we're not stupid.
02:31 Everyone tries to get around it.
02:32 So that's clear.
02:36 So basically let's just be upfront and go,
02:40 North and Lonny have that acknowledgement,
02:41 like, yep, we're in a much better position
02:45 considering our history than some other clubs.
02:48 We're prepared to see them get some benefits
02:52 to boost them up so we can have a competitive competition.
02:55 Like everyone loves winning,
02:56 but they don't wanna win by 100 plus points.
02:58 Like people wanna contest.
03:00 So I think that basically you need to essentially
03:04 dish out money to the Scottsdales and Deloran
03:08 and whoever else seemingly needs it
03:10 to be able to recruit.
03:11 'Cause the only way you're gonna get good players
03:14 and the thing is the travel
03:15 to go out to Scottsdale and Deloran
03:17 is to give them money over the in-town clubs.
03:21 So I don't, I'd expect lots of people to suck about that
03:25 and say, oh, you can't give clubs money over us,
03:29 but there's gotta be some serious conversations about,
03:32 do we want a competitive competition next year?
03:35 Or are we going to be just living with being upset
03:39 that it's not fair?
03:40 - What do you make of it, Josh?
03:41 And also talk us through the weekend.
03:44 - There's not much more I can add.
03:45 Brian's just hit the nail on the head there.
03:46 So I'm gonna just let that just simmer,
03:48 but I'll talk about the weekend's results.
03:51 Launceston were the big winners this weekend.
03:53 Obviously coming into the clash, I won three.
03:57 Struggling, we've picked them to death here
03:59 in this little circle,
04:00 but they came out way and beat Lauderdale
04:03 Premiership Favorites by three points,
04:04 which was a massive result.
04:07 And then elsewhere, North Lawney accounted for Gornorky.
04:10 And the really big highlight there was
04:13 young gun, Kaelin Matthews on debut, kicking five.
04:16 That's just fantastic for a kid.
04:19 The way talking to Adrian Smith through the week,
04:21 he described him as a bit of a raw talent
04:23 and it's coming out and kick five in your first TSL game.
04:26 Pretty cool.
04:27 - Brody claimed it was right up there
04:29 in terms of emotion with the three grand finals
04:32 that he's played in.
04:33 Do you feel like, you know,
04:35 is this a win that changes the course of Launceston season?
04:38 Is it a freak result?
04:39 How much do you sort of read into this result?
04:40 - I think it certainly gives them confidence.
04:43 Whether it changes the course of the season,
04:46 I'm not sure, but it'd give them that confidence to say,
04:49 look, okay, we've beaten who everyone perceives
04:51 to be the best team in the league.
04:52 So it's really going to,
04:54 I don't wanna say give them confidence again,
04:57 but it's really gonna give them that boost
04:58 and to think, okay, well, we can beat anyone.
05:01 I'm pretty sure they got the bye this weekend.
05:03 So they'll go into there a bit rested
05:05 and then whoever they've got next weekend after that,
05:07 it's gonna be a pretty interesting game
05:09 to see how they come out.
05:11 - And moving on to local footy, the NTFI.
05:13 You're at a busy, busy Saturday, Ben.
05:15 What'd you get up to?
05:16 - Yes, and at Scottsdale, you're right,
05:18 the trouble is a long way.
05:19 No, I had a good day out there.
05:22 It was six games played all at the Scottsdale
05:25 sort of twin ground venue out there.
05:28 Perfect weather, which made the football even better.
05:31 I think the best game in itself was the 11 point win
05:35 that Della Rain had against Meander Valley.
05:37 It was a grand final rematch
05:39 from last season's Division One grand final.
05:42 But probably the story of the day was St. Pat's.
05:44 So they played their first ever women's game
05:46 and they won against Longford.
05:49 So that's a really rare feat
05:51 and a really great effort from St. Pat's.
05:53 It's a testament to how well they've recruited
05:55 over the preseason, how well they've set up their club
05:57 that they won by three goals in the end.
06:01 I talked to Roger Menzi after,
06:03 he was a coach after the game on Sunday
06:05 and he was absolutely wrapped.
06:08 I'm not sure if he's getting ahead of himself or not.
06:12 He reckons they're just as good as Della Rain.
06:13 We'll have to wait and see.
06:14 They're playing them on the weekend.
06:15 So we'll have to see what's going on.
06:17 But he was just so pleased for the whole club.
06:21 It's obviously been a bit of a mixed fortune
06:23 for the men and the women so far this season.
06:25 But he reckons that the culture of the club
06:28 has never been better since the women's team has come in.
06:30 And I think that's a testament.
06:31 - And also Scott Stowell seemed to be copying
06:33 a lot of the flack of the proposed NTFA Premier Division.
06:37 Having driven out there,
06:39 what did you think of the facilities,
06:40 the journey out there and back?
06:42 And Scott Stowell as a venue,
06:43 as part of a regional Northern competition?
06:45 - I think Scott Stowell's main oval
06:48 has always been seen as one of the better grounds
06:50 in the league.
06:50 It's really a great surface.
06:53 It's quite picturesque ground sort of up there.
06:55 I do prefer the long way than the side lane.
06:58 You're gonna get a bit sort of carsick
06:59 if I go to the side lane way.
07:00 But no, it's a great little venue.
07:05 I don't think there's any issues with that.
07:07 And Scott Stowell seemed like a great sort of country club.
07:11 I've been at a few myself.
07:12 So I think, yeah, there's no issues there.
07:14 I think, yeah, the only issue that people ever have
07:17 with this whole Premier League idea is the competitiveness.
07:20 But Scott Stowell as a club itself and as a town,
07:23 yeah, perfectly capable if they have a competitive team
07:26 to be a place where people wanna go.
07:29 - Yeah.
07:30 Moving on to local soccer and big weekend,
07:33 just gone for all three of our clubs
07:34 'cause all of them enjoyed a victory
07:36 in different competitions.
07:37 I went to both the Lonnie United versus Riverside games.
07:40 They played in the NPL on Friday night
07:43 and then in the Women's Super League on Saturday.
07:45 Both really entertaining games.
07:46 Both had five goals in them.
07:48 Both teams led at different times.
07:51 So it was a really good couple of games
07:53 and we got plenty of goal highlights.
07:54 We got some of the footage
07:56 that Football Tasmania has put together
07:57 and we'll overlay that as we're talking now.
07:59 But on Friday night, Lonnie United took an early lead
08:03 but Riverside came back and won 4-1.
08:05 Austin Marshall scored two of the goals
08:07 but I thought the pick of the goals
08:08 was Henley Cook's looping header
08:10 which you'll see him enjoying the celebration of here.
08:13 The Women's game on Saturday was an absolute river.
08:16 Riverside led for a fair while
08:18 and they're still looking for their first win
08:19 since going up into the statewide competition
08:21 and to get it over a former champion
08:23 would have been a great result for them
08:25 but United equalized with about 20 minutes to go
08:27 and won it in injury time
08:29 with this amazing free kick from Danny Gunton that goes in.
08:32 But the goal of the weekend was scored up at Lonnie City.
08:34 They beat Clarence 2-1
08:36 and both goals came from their English import striker,
08:39 Thierry Swabie, who I've interviewed a couple of times
08:42 and he loves having the name Thierry
08:44 and he does play like Thierry Henry.
08:47 And as you'll see from this goal,
08:50 he can score goals like Thierry Henry as well.
08:52 He's a funny guy, I like talking to him
08:54 and he's scored a wonderful goal.
08:56 And if we get the footage going,
08:58 if you can just hear right at the end,
08:59 he runs to the bench and just tells them all to settle down.
09:02 Very cool, I quite like him.
09:04 - Just settle down, yeah, just settle down.
09:07 We're at City, how far do you think they can go this season?
09:10 It's obviously been such a hot start for them.
09:13 Where do you think they rank right at the minute?
09:15 - I think they'll probably ask themselves the same question
09:18 in that there's quite a split in the NPL
09:20 between the top four and the bottom four.
09:22 And at the moment, the three Lonnie sides
09:25 and Clarence are the bottom four.
09:27 So if any one of those four could make the leap
09:30 in to challenge the top four,
09:32 I think we're only about five or six games in
09:33 and already there's something like a 10 point gap
09:35 and that's how we finished last season,
09:36 those four and those four.
09:38 So it is a league of two divisions.
09:42 I think Lonnie City are best placed
09:44 to break out that bottom four.
09:45 Certainly the best place are the Launceston sides
09:48 and they beat Clarence at the weekend.
09:49 So I think they are the best of the bottom four
09:52 but it would be lovely to see them knock off
09:54 a South Cobalt or a Devonport.
09:56 They got a nil-nil draw at Devonport a couple of weeks ago.
09:59 So they are that close to the top sides.
10:01 What Daniel Syson's doing up there is really impressive
10:03 and he's got some good imports
10:05 combined with some really good local talent.
10:07 So I think they've got a good mix.
10:08 I think they're going really well.
10:09 - And they obviously knocked off South Cobalt
10:11 in the cup as well.
10:12 So it's just a matter of translating that
10:14 obviously across to the league stuff.
10:15 - That's right.
10:16 And I was at that game and it wasn't a fluke result.
10:18 They deserve to win that.
10:20 It's a good competition
10:22 but it has got this split in the middle
10:23 and anything that can be done to address that
10:25 from the clubs, good luck to them.
10:27 Yeah.
10:28 I think that's about all we've got time for this week.
10:30 So thanks for tuning in.
10:31 We're all off to Josh's birthday party
10:34 and we'll see you next week.
10:35 (upbeat music)
10:38 (upbeat music)
10:41 (upbeat music)
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