The Examiner’s Josh Partridge, Rob Shaw, Brian Allen and Ben Hann unpack and discuss the sports news across Northern Tasmania.
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00:00Welcome to episode 56 of the Press Box, the Examiner's Weekly Sportscast. We had a huge
00:12Tasmanian sporting event at the weekend and in addition to Josh's Bucks night, there was
00:18an AFL game played here at the weekend. Hawthorne against GWS and it was an absolute whipper.
00:22The three of us were there. Brian, talk us through it.
00:26I'm going to argue, Rob, that it was probably the best Hawks game at UTAS,
00:32best game actually, since the Greater Western Sydney 2001 final, which the Giants won by one
00:40point. But three years down the track, we have Hawthorne, who are vastly improving under Sam
00:48Mitchell, and a formidable Giants outfit that made last year's preliminary final.
00:56Played a fantastic game, which resulted with the Hawks winning by a goal with only about a
01:03minute to play. So, James Sisley was bumped after he kicked it by the Giants' Tom Green,
01:10and it ended up with an out on the full downfield free kick and Luke Bruce snapped it through. But
01:17as you well know with all your research, Rob, Bruce wasn't even on the ground to start with.
01:22That's right. So, I wrote a piece during the game that AFL Tables is this wonderful website
01:28that we all use. Luke Bruce has now played the most games at York Park. He's now at 50,
01:33two ahead of Sean Burgoyne, Luke Hodge, Jared Welford. The only other player still playing is
01:39Liam Shills. He's on 43. But also, by kicking those two goals, Bruce is now on 89 goals at the venue
01:46and there's only two above him, and I'm sure we can all guess who those two are,
01:49Lance Franklin and Jared Ruffhead. But Bruce is third. There's a massive gap to fourth,
01:54which is 58, and that's Jack Gunston. So, Bruce enjoys playing in laddies.
01:58And what did you think of the, there was a bit of a different umpire's interpretation this round
02:02with the new holding the bowl laws and stuff like that. What did you think of, I suppose,
02:05a hotter football? I think that we were the beneficiary with the game we saw. How often
02:12was it that Hawthorne players were streaming from half back through the middle of the ground,
02:17I thought, cutting up the Giants at times. But then that's sort of the Giants' style is to run
02:24through the middle of the ground like that. So we saw it from both sides. And in terms of like
02:28the umpiring, well, yes, it was a controversial finish. I actually thought Tom Green did bump
02:34him late. I'm not sure who should have taken the kick. But the main thing is I thought that
02:43I didn't notice the umpires myself. I'm a neutral, clearly, but that's the ideal
02:49situation. What about yourself, Tim? Yeah, I think it's no coincidence. Obviously,
02:53the two attacking teams, but we have quicker bowl movement as a result of these more definitive and
02:58faster umpiring decisions. And therefore, it's probably the highest scoring game we've had
03:04at UTAS for quite some time in terms of a close game as well, because often these close games are
03:09between 60 and 70, both teams. So I think that's definitely a positive and it's definitely
03:14had a correlation with the scoreboard. And I think GWS in their, it might not be their last
03:18three games, but in three games at York Park, they won by a point in the elimination final.
03:23They drew with Hawthorne and they've now lost by a goal. So you were right, it was that last
03:28quarter, the three of us were sitting there and it was so exciting, wasn't it? Just seeing all
03:32the constant lead changes. Yeah, I was going to mention there was a lot of big moments,
03:36a lot of big lead changes. There was unsung heroes like, you know, Marbury or Cholle,
03:39you know, surprise sort of heroes in Xavier O'Halloran. There was a lot of,
03:44you know, really good storylines weaved within the actual game itself. And, you know,
03:48the Hawks have now won six of their last eight, so they are really flying along.
03:52Yeah, and Pardo nearly rivaled the crowd that you were treated to earlier in this season with
03:57the Saints. Well, yeah, that was what I was going to say. I suppose, obviously,
04:00the Saints game had 15,000 there. There was 11,000 there on the weekend, I suppose,
04:04taught me through how the crowd was. I know with the Saints game, it was probably 60-40 in terms
04:09of the support. I'd assume this one had a few more Hawthorn supporters there than JWS?
04:14Yeah, well, definitely. I suppose my experience was walking over the bridge into the game about
04:2115 minutes prior and, yeah, you know, the pubs on the way were full and clearly a lot of Hawthorn
04:27support. But what we had in this particular instance was obviously the Kings birthday
04:32weekend. No NTFA footy, no netball or basketball. Netball, soccer, basketball, yeah.
04:39Yeah, the soccer was on a couple of days later. So, had a real clear run at it and we know that
04:44there were some discounted tickets, you know, offered to the NTFA clubs and that sort of stuff.
04:50So, there was a real effort made to put it at a time slot that suited when people were free and
04:55also, you know, reasonable cost. And there was a nice touch. We said that there was no netball
05:01being played on Saturday and as I walked into the game there were the Northern Hawks, all their
05:06players at the front gate in their kits and tracksuits because they had the day off and
05:11they've got this connection with the Hawks as well. And I saw soccer players that I would normally
05:16expect to be playing on a Saturday afternoon in the crowd. So, I think Launceston came together
05:21for the game. Now, Ben, a lot happened after the game as well. You covered the coaches press
05:26conference. What exactly happened after the game? Well, to put a bit of context in, before the game
05:33the Hawks runner, among a few other staff, had missed the start of the game really late because
05:37they were stuck in Hobart due to fog at the airport which meant it was hard for them to get
05:42into Launceston. So, Brett Ratton had to do the running duties for Hawthorne. And that's why they
05:47didn't have a banner as well. Yeah, it is also why they didn't have a banner as well. So, there's a few
05:51controversies. And then after the game, I was made aware just before the press conference that
05:57both clubs wouldn't be able to get out of Tasmania because all flights at Launceston and Hobart
06:03had been cancelled due to fog once again. So, it meant that they had to do this last minute search
06:08for accommodation and stuff like that. I presume it's the same for all the fans that came in from
06:13Victoria as well or elsewhere. So, it was a bit of a scrambling to see what happened. But it was,
06:20I think Sam Mitchell said, well, look, these are the sorts of off-field distractions where a well-run
06:26club just, they don't worry about it and they just get on with the game and that sort of stuff will
06:30take care of itself. So, do we know where they actually stayed Saturday night? I believe both
06:36of them stayed down in Hobart. I also mentioned on the free kick, both of them kept a very straight
06:41face and said, look, I didn't see it. I need to have a look at it again before I make a comment.
06:45Auston Venga is alive and well.
06:46Yeah, exactly right. And yeah, I think both coaches were, I was surprised a little bit by
06:53Adam Kingsley's spirits. He said, look, it's their fourth loss in five games. It was a really
06:59heartbreaking one for them. But he goes, look, I believe in my team. We're a really good team.
07:04We're going to get out of this. And for Sam Mitchell, he sort of said, look, finals is not
07:09necessarily something that I'm going to say this is our target or anything. We're not looking that
07:12far ahead, but it's good to be involved in games with a bit more meaning.
07:16And since losing that stinker against Port Adelaide in the last couple of seconds,
07:20Hawthorne have really bounced back, haven't they?
07:22Yeah, Sam Mitchell said he's worked with the team a lot on how to finish games out. They
07:27had a lot of really close losses last year as well. One to JV West in Gather Round, if people
07:31remember. And he goes, we're still not perfect by any means. We still did a lot of things wrong
07:37at the end there. But the more you involve yourselves in those sorts of experiences,
07:41the better you're going to get at.
07:42Yeah. We've got another big footy story breaking this week. And Josh, tell us all about it.
07:48So Launceston coach Mitch Thorpe is finishing his coaching stint at the Blues at the end of
07:53this season. So he's been at the Blues. He joined them at playing in 2018 and then started coaching
07:59the following year. Since then, he's coached them to three premierships, which adds on to his one at
08:04South Launceston in his earlier stint there. So it's an 11-year three club stint in the TSL that's
08:10come to an end. So pretty big time, obviously, in his career and just Tasmanian footy in general.
08:16Josh, you've dealt with him a lot over the years. I can't think of anyone else who would have
08:19interviewed him more in that time. It's lovely that he came to you to tell the story. What's
08:25he like to deal with from a journalist point of view? What's he like when they lose? And what's
08:29he like when they win?
08:30It's actually quite funny because I suppose when they lose, I actually have a few people go, oh,
08:34good luck in there, mate. But it's completely fine. He does bristle a bit, I guess. But at the
08:41same time, some of the better quotes and some of the better things he says comes from the losses.
08:47He knows what we do is our job. So he's actually very accommodating in the things that I have to
08:53ask him after a loss. So it's honestly not too bad. But yeah, it's just quite funny seeing the
08:58reactions of people going, yeah, good luck, mate. Good luck. Enjoy that. Yeah, righto.
09:02He's got a very sound footy knowledge. It's very clear. I don't think this is going to be the end
09:06of his football journey. Where do you see him sort of maybe going beyond this year?
09:10Yeah, it'd be interesting. And that's something I'm certainly going to ask him when we talk
09:14later today. But I don't know if I can. It depends. He's got a very young family. So
09:19whether there's going to be a relocation or anything there, no one knows. We certainly
09:25don't know. It would be speculation. But I couldn't imagine him coaching within Tasmania
09:31next season. But who knows? And what sort of impact does he have on young players?
09:37He's like Ben just said, he's very knowledgeable. He has played AFL level and he's been a part of
09:43the state league scene, it seems, for decades. Have you seen the impact that he has on young
09:49players and how he mentors? Yeah, you can just see like a quarter time breaks and three quarter
09:54time breaks when he's got the team in the huddle. He's very captivating. There was a game earlier
09:59this year where he called everyone standing around the outside and went, everyone come in
10:04here. I want you to hear this. So it wasn't just the players. It was he got the whole club. There
10:08was about 50 people basically in this huddle, captivated to him and listening to what he had
10:12to say. And you can just tell, listen with your eyes, is something that he says a lot. So the
10:18young players are always looking directly at him and always really captivated as to what he has
10:22to say. It sounds like he's a frustrated school teacher. Well, yeah, that's effectively what
10:27coaches are at any level. So yeah, especially, especially this one, that's for sure. And a lot
10:31of the top coaches have been school teachers, I guess. Yeah. Just quickly, Pardo, like on the
10:35legacy piece, four premierships at high level. It is very impressive, but, and I've only been here
10:43a couple of years, so I don't know all the kind of coaching legends of Launceston, but can you
10:48just sort of give us an idea of who are some of the other big names that have coached multiple
10:52premierships and where Thorpey, which group sort of Thorpey's in? Well, he is the most successful
10:58club in the modern state leg era. So 2011, I think the state league restarted, right? No other coach
11:03has won four premierships in that time. So, um, in terms of modern Tasmanian football history is
11:09certainly, um, well, he is the most successful, so. Yeah. Who are, who are like some of the other
11:14ones? Do you, can you think of any off the top of your head? They either went for Brad Cox,
11:19yeah, they would have, they would have won probably two or three, uh, yeah, something like that as
11:24coaches, but no, I can't really. And that's all at one club. It's in Thorpey's credit that he's,
11:28he's gone to three different clubs. Yeah. That's a wonderful story. I'll look forward to reading
11:33that. That'll be on the examiner's website. Have a look. Thanks for tuning in. See you next week.