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 [Music]
00:07 Welcome to episode 16 of the Pressbox, the Examiner's weekly sportscast.
00:12 Heavily dominated by footy this week. As you can see we've got the band back together and Ben's even had a haircut for the occasion.
00:19 So Ben you can kick us off. A massive weekend just gone of footy and another big weekend coming up.
00:25 What were you up to last weekend?
00:27 I was at Odlands Estonians playing Perth in Vermeer Park, they're just right next to UTAS.
00:34 It was tough obviously, there was a lot of rain on that Friday, probably hurt the ground a little bit going to Saturday.
00:40 Which meant the game was a bit slower, a bit more dour.
00:42 But it was a massive win for OLs who got themselves now to just one win behind Perth.
00:49 And Perth play St Pat's who are in great form at the moment and OLs have East Coast.
00:54 Which means it's a potential chance that from two rounds to go being two wins behind,
01:00 they could end up finishing above Perth and get that home final in fourth spot.
01:04 So there's a lot happening there.
01:06 NTFA W, South Launceston have just about confirmed their spot in the last spot in the finals
01:13 because they had a really good win over Scottsdale.
01:16 All bare, Scottsdale without probably three of their best players of the day.
01:20 But they had a really good win as well and in the Div 1 it really looks as though anyone of Meander Valley,
01:26 Dellerain or Hillwood could win.
01:28 They're all three really strong teams, clearly the best in the competition.
01:32 They've all had really good games against each other.
01:34 So it's going to be exciting to see what's going to happen as we head into finals.
01:38 And we've got some great footage from Paul Scambler that he took at the weekend that will be overlaid
01:42 so that people don't have to look at Ben's haircut.
01:44 And Brian, we've got a bit of video from you as well.
01:47 And what's your NTFA roundup?
01:49 Yes, probably the big sort of talking points are that the top five is pretty much set now.
01:55 So it's Hillwood, Rochereau Lea, Longford, South Launceston and Bracknell.
02:02 And the reason being is that Bracknell is two games ahead of Bridge North and Dellerain.
02:07 And Bracknell's fifth.
02:09 And there are two games to go, but the percentage gap is so great
02:16 that it would be very slim chances of them sort of getting knocked out of fifth spot at the moment.
02:22 So Bracknell played Rochereau Lea on Saturday and it was a game that was even at half time.
02:30 It was a very entertaining game.
02:32 It was finally some good weather, like just clear, not as windy.
02:37 I think that the weather and the wind and everything has sort of impacted the low scoring a fair bit this season.
02:43 So I'm kind of keen to see what this month and the finals bring in terms of how much more easily teams can score.
02:51 And yeah, so Rochereau Lea ended up winning that game.
02:57 And then Rochereau Lea have Dellerain this weekend at home.
03:00 And they've got to win if they want to try and get the double chance in finals
03:03 because Rochereau Lea have the bye in the final round and you don't get any points for the bye.
03:09 So there's a ladder so tight.
03:11 They've just got to win this week and hopefully they might finish third.
03:15 And if they don't win, they might finish fourth.
03:17 And you've got a bit of audio from Josh Ponting for us.
03:20 Yes, so yeah, here's Josh Ponting.
03:22 And this was some pretty insightful stuff on Rochereau Lea kicked eight goals in the third quarter
03:28 after the scores were level at half time.
03:30 And here's his insight into why that happened.
03:32 Third quarter I think we just started to isolate a few of our match-ups pretty well.
03:35 We were able to get some good one-on-ones on that far wing.
03:38 And if we didn't win the ball, we brought it to ground and were able to get out the back.
03:41 And when we got out the back, we got genuine one-on-ones for the footy.
03:44 And we think we've got enough firepower up front.
03:46 When we get one-on-ones, we're going to kick a winning score.
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04:31 Of course, Josh Ponting having made his name in the State League,
04:34 which brings us nicely on to...
04:36 Josh, what's happening in the State League this weekend?
04:39 So I went to Launceston versus Clarence on Saturday.
04:42 And as Ben kind of said, the rain the night before made the ground in interesting condition,
04:48 which didn't really go down too well with Clarence.
04:52 But the council, Launceston Footy Club and AFL-Tasal, ticked off Windsor Park and said it was ready to play.
04:58 But obviously, as you can see with the footage, it wasn't in the best of conditions.
05:03 But Launceston kicked eight goals in the first quarter, and that blew Clarence away,
05:07 and they won by 60 points in the end.
05:09 So it was an interesting game of TSL footy and one that potentially will be remembered,
05:13 not for the brilliant reasons that a game usually is,
05:16 but Lonnie got the win, and they go into this weekend, a big clash this weekend, with a bit more confidence.
05:22 Why do you think they were able to kick eight goals in such terrible conditions in one quarter?
05:28 They just came out really strong.
05:30 I mean, their small forwards went to work.
05:32 I think in the first quarter, Liam Jones and Isaac Hyatt both kicked two,
05:36 and there was potentially another one set up for Colby McKirch,
05:39 although that might have been in the second quarter, I can't really remember.
05:42 But their small forwards worked really well in the challenging conditions.
05:45 They got out the back, and they were just able to sneak some goals.
05:48 I think at least one of them was sockered close to the square,
05:51 and the other one just got out the back in the square and got the job done.
05:54 So their small fleet, which they've been undersized all year in the forward line,
05:59 but their small fleet really worked on Saturday.
06:02 Just quickly, Colby McKirch and Ari Schoenmaker, just those two that were...
06:10 And James Leek as well.
06:12 Yeah, so those three guys all played on Saturday?
06:15 Yeah.
06:16 That's pretty cool, because they're all going to the combine.
06:20 And I think they're right in the draft conversation.
06:23 Can you give us a bit of an idea of how they played and where they're at with the draft?
06:27 Yeah, it was a bit of a different game for them.
06:29 Colby played a bit more up forward.
06:31 I guess with the conditions, you don't put a Ferrari in the mud, really, do you?
06:36 So they put him up forward a bit, and they used his speed.
06:40 And he was able to get out the back, as I said, get out the back with his speed
06:43 and kick a goal in that sense and kind of influence it like that.
06:47 Ari, being a defender, he was kind of under the pump a bit all day,
06:50 but he's a pretty tall boy and was still able to get down low in the challenging conditions
06:54 and play a pretty good game of footy.
06:56 And Leaky was a bit quiet, but he's certainly a talent that should be mid-range
07:02 come draft time, you'd think.
07:04 And it's interesting what you're saying about the game nearly being postponed.
07:07 So that was obviously at Windsor Park.
07:09 The previous week, the soccer right next door at Riverside Olympic had been abandoned,
07:14 sorry, postponed, and we had another postponement in the soccer at the weekend.
07:18 Launceston United were due to play Devonport at Birch Avenue, and that game was postponed.
07:23 So obviously weather dominating a lot of the different footy codes at the moment.
07:27 That decision actually did Devonport a bit of a favour because Devonport,
07:31 we're recording this on Wednesday, they play in their Australia Cup game against Gold Coast tonight.
07:37 And so obviously having a few more days to prepare for that helped the Strikers a fair bit.
07:42 It didn't do Launceston United any favours. It would have been a good time to play Devonport.
07:46 But with that game being called off, the big game in Launceston at the weekend was
07:51 Launceston City were at home to Clarence and won the game 2-1.
07:56 Excellent performance, one of City's best performances of the season I would say,
08:00 and a winner scored late on by James Hawes.
08:03 Daniel Syson was delighted after that game, and rightly so. That's a big result for them to get that.
08:08 Also down south the same day, Riverside were actually 2-0 up and 3-1 up against Kingborough.
08:14 They ended up losing the game 5-3, but they're a completely different proposition since the mid-season window.
08:19 They've got some good imports in, and also the players that have come in from elsewhere.
08:25 Geddy Cruz has made a big difference to Riverside, and they're going really well.
08:29 And the return of Aaron Kidmuth as well, I wrote a piece about that this week, and he's doing really well at Riverside.
08:35 And in the Women's Super League, Lonnie United got a superb 0-0 draw at Devonport,
08:41 having had their captain Nicola Clarke sent off after about half an hour.
08:44 So to hold out for an hour against one of the best sides in the state on the Astra turf out the back of Valley Road was a really good result for them.
08:51 Now, we've got some breaking cricket news just come in, Josh. Tell us about that.
08:55 Yeah, so I just checked our inboxes before we came in here, and young 17-year-old Riverside cricket talent Aidan O'Connor has signed a rookie contact with Cricket Tasmania.
09:05 So what that means is due to the fact that he's still in school, he'll stay in the north and kind of prioritise his study,
09:10 and then go to Hobart to do the cricket side of things when he can.
09:14 But it's really exciting news to have a product of the Northern, the Greater Northern Raiders, their first cricket product signed by Cricket Tasmania.
09:21 So it's pretty fantastic to do that.
09:23 And confessions up front, we know Aidan's a good mate of yours.
09:26 So what can you tell us about Aidan as a cricketer? What will he bring to the program?
09:30 So he's a pretty strong bowling all-rounder, and that doesn't really detract his batting.
09:34 He's a really good batter as well.
09:36 A couple of years ago he took a spinner for 20, 24 off and over in a game here in Launceston.
09:43 So yeah, he loves to hit the ball hard, but still while maintaining your technique and hitting the ball hard with purpose kind of thing.
09:51 And he's a quick bowler. I've heard rumours that he's touching around the 135-140 mark at the moment as a 17-year-old, which is pretty impressive.
09:59 And yeah, he's a lovely character too.
10:01 Sounds like next Cameron Green's coming along.
10:04 What's he like to play in the net then, Josh?
10:07 Keep in my half, please, Aidan. Do not bowl anything short.
10:10 Yeah, way too good for me.
10:13 Good stuff.
10:14 Just with, was it last year he played for Tassie and did really well? Am I right?
10:18 Yeah, he played in the 19s and the 17s as well.
10:21 So being so young, he was able to kind of double dip the underage stuff.
10:25 He's still obviously got a couple of years left in the 19s as well, which is fantastic for him to be able to get that development both at a senior level now as well as the junior pathway.
10:33 Excellent. And now looking ahead to the weekend, I'll just go through my soccer stuff.
10:39 NPL, Lonnie City are hosting Devonport at 4.45 on Saturday.
10:43 So that'll be an interesting one.
10:45 Devonport coming off their Australia Cup game and Launceston City coming off that good win against Clarence.
10:50 In the Women's Super League, the game is on Sunday.
10:53 Lonnie United against Taruna at Birch Avenue.
10:55 The other games are down south this weekend.
10:57 Josh, what's happening in State League this weekend?
11:00 As I kind of touched on before, Launceston got a huge clash this weekend against top of the table Kingborough.
11:04 That is down south, as is Lauderdale versus North Launceston.
11:08 So the Tigers-Blues match will be the game of the round.
11:11 One, the first, first, third.
11:13 It's going to be really interesting to see how the Blues can shape up after losing to them only four points last time when they were 18 points up at three quarter time.
11:20 And NTFA, Brian, where are you off to?
11:22 Yeah, so it's a big weekend of NTFA footy because we've got Hillwood against Longford.
11:29 That's first versus third at Hillwood.
11:31 And we've got South v. Bracknell at Youngtown, and that is fourth v. fifth.
11:36 So I, and of course Rochelle is trying to win too.
11:40 So I think I'll be going to Hillwood-Longford, which was a draw last time, a low-scoring draw.
11:45 So hopefully we get a result this time, and yeah, very much looking forward to it.
11:49 Yep, and you've been to a draw recently as well, Ben.
11:52 I'm still on the draw, yeah.
11:54 Where are you off to?
11:55 Yeah, I've got obviously another big weekend as well of NTFA action.
11:59 But for me, Sunday's probably the highlight.
12:01 Hawks are playing the Bulldogs in the AFL, obviously in Launceston.
12:05 And I think it's going to be a cracking game.
12:08 I did a little bit of an analysis piece on it on Monday about it.
12:11 I think both teams are in cracking form at the moment.
12:15 I actually tip the Hawks, to be honest, for this game.
12:18 It's going to be a cracking game, especially being played here.
12:20 They've got a phenomenal record here.
12:21 Yeah, 71% of matches Hawks play down here, they win, which is second only to Geelong, down in Geelong.
12:28 So it's pretty imperious.
12:30 Yeah.
12:31 So we're in for a busy weekend, yep.
12:33 Yeah, yeah.
12:34 Absolutely.
12:35 Looking forward to that.
12:36 Please read all about it in The Examiner, examiner.com.au, or like us on Facebook.
12:40 Thanks for tuning in.
12:41 See you next week.
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