The Examiner's Ben Hann and Brian Allen unpack and discuss sports news from across Northern Tasmania. Video by Aaron Smith (27/8/24)
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00:00Welcome on an alternate episode of the Press Box, episode 66 today.
00:11My name is Ben Hand, joined once again by Brian Allen.
00:14Josh is out of action once again.
00:16He's got better things to do apparently.
00:18We're coming off a fairly chaotic, frenetic weekend of footy, Brian, all sorts of factors
00:25going into it.
00:27Maybe take us through a bit of an overview of what happened on Saturday and Sunday.
00:31Hold the phone here, mate.
00:33Where's the number 66?
00:35Sorry, sorry.
00:37It's not like I need to remind you of this.
00:41He's blatantly forgot everybody.
00:44We need to give the people what they want.
00:48First of all, this number in sport.
00:57Brian, number 66.
01:00I'm going a really local angle to play into the NTFA footy thing.
01:05In Division 1 this season, we had a leading goal kicker.
01:08It was going to be Trent Griggs, but he injured himself.
01:11Ben Elmer came through and stole the show in the last round, finishing with 66 goals
01:16to take out the Division 1 Goal Kicking Award.
01:20Sorry guys for potentially ruining your days by not giving you guys what you want.
01:25We do have a lot to get through, I suppose, Brian.
01:30Less important matters, but what happened on Saturday?
01:33Less important?
01:35In terms of the Hawthorne match, the UTAS match, there was a lot going on during the week.
01:42I was walking to work and the traffic lights weren't working.
01:46Then obviously you heard some rumbles about the UTAS stadium match between the Hawks and
01:52North Melbourne potentially being moved because of the lights.
01:56That may not be going on.
01:59On Friday evening, the whole thing reached its crescendo.
02:05The match was moved from 4.40pm to 12.30pm.
02:10That was due to a strike by the Communication, Electrical and Plumbing Union members.
02:18It was all about the light towers and the risk of them not being on for a twilight game.
02:27It was interesting, just a personal experience.
02:31I was at Roche Relief for the day and just driving back through the traffic.
02:34The lights were on.
02:36I'm not really across all the background there, but the lights were on at 4pm.
02:41Did you notice that yourself?
02:44I think the idea was to try and get to as much light as possible in case the lights weren't working
02:50so that it was still a playable footy match.
02:52You're right, it was a little bit ironic that they ended up using the lights the whole time anyway.
02:59Of course we were both stuck in the traffic coming out from the likes of Hillwood and Roche Relief on Saturday,
03:04which of course is just expected.
03:06It was fantastic that so much footy went on.
03:09It was unfortunate that a lot of it clashed.
03:12Exactly what they were trying to avoid.
03:14I know, that's life.
03:16Sometimes you make plans and they change.
03:19Unfortunately it was the case that the UTAS games at 12.30pm
03:24and the NTFA games were moved to be more about that 1 o'clock, 1.30pm mark.
03:31I guess one thing I wanted to touch on was just some of the key issues of last week.
03:37One was with Roche Relief going into their qualifying final.
03:41They had their three star players suspended.
03:44Jordan Cousins, Luke Richards and Dakota Bannister.
03:47For their qualifying final against Longford.
03:51Longford ended up winning by 17 points after coming from four points down at three quarter time.
03:56It's probably fair to say that that had an influence on the game.
03:59They're due to be back this week for the Roche Relief semi-final against Hillwood.
04:05Tell me a bit about your footy experiences over the weekend, mate.
04:09Yeah, it was a bit chaotic. It was also wet.
04:12Last year I remember having great days for finals every weekend.
04:15This year it's been a little bit more wet and dingy.
04:18But it's still been a lot of fun.
04:20We obviously had Lillie Dale, an old Scottish player, an absolute belter out at Hillwood.
04:23A ground that neither club really ever play at.
04:25So it's been an interesting experience for them.
04:28Sunday was a bit more chaotic.
04:30It was really dark at Evenmay Park for Broodport's win over Perth.
04:35Right after the game for me, we had the lightning and the thunder strike.
04:39But it was a bit more chaotic at Bridge North and Hillwood out at Parrot Park.
04:44It was only halfway through the last quarter when the lightning began to come a bit too close to the ground.
04:50They had to halt play and make sure it was safe.
04:53There was a lot of confusion on the sideline talking to Josh about it.
04:57They said there was a bit of confusion over how long the stoppage had to be before the game was called.
05:03Turns out it was only minutes away from being called when they decided to play it again.
05:08Josh wrote a great piece about what was going on in the Hillwood rooms in the meantime.
05:12Obviously Hillwood came away as winners despite trailing at that time.
05:16So they almost had their season stolen from them.
05:19Yeah, it's amazing, mate.
05:21We did see it in the AFL, Melbourne Collingwood, on the Friday night game stop for lightning.
05:26So probably something you could kind of see coming.
05:30It is a bit unusual at local footy though to have a game stop for the weather like that.
05:35You had a great little anecdote.
05:37You were talking to the coach and you had the lightning or the thunder in the background or something?
05:42Yeah, I was talking to Andrew Fieldpot, obviously a Broodport coach.
05:45It was also another poetic moment.
05:48There were seagulls all over the ground right at the end as they were winning.
05:53I took him out to the back of the rooms after he addressed the whole club.
05:58Yeah, it was bloody loud.
06:01Couldn't hear some of my interview playing back after.
06:04That's how loud it was.
06:06I don't think he cared very much.
06:08They're still in the league and they play old Scotch on the weekend.
06:11It's going to be a ripper.
06:13Speaking of which, we do have to now look ahead to this weekend's games.
06:17A few less, thankfully, for me.
06:19You, though, you've still got two days of action.
06:23South Launceston, the minor premiers, are hosting Longford on Saturday at 2.30pm.
06:29It's a contrasting lead-up to this game for both teams.
06:34South were rewarded with a break, but they had this really different fixture this year.
06:40What happened was they played the best teams at the start of the year consecutively.
06:45Then they did that again in the back end of the year.
06:48It meant they finished with all the weaker teams at the end.
06:51They actually haven't played another finalist since July 6th.
06:56Whereas Longford have just played Rotorilie, Bridge North, Hillwood and Rotorilie.
07:02All finalists in the last four weeks.
07:05They are very contrasting runs.
07:08You could argue that South Launceston's had a nice break and should be really fresh.
07:14Longford, on the other hand, are really hardened and are used to finals-like games.
07:20I'm really curious to see what influence that has this weekend.
07:24Just providing a quick tip myself.
07:27I think South Launceston will win by 10 points anyway, despite the different lead-ups.
07:33I just think they are strong enough to win and get into the grand final.
07:38It's going to be a good battle.
07:40That's certainly the benchmark.
07:41Just remember last year in finals, Brian tipped the grand final margin and winner to the point.
07:48Take what he says as gospel.
07:51Except I'm zero from two so far.
07:53We won't worry about that. We only take the wins.
07:56There's also another exciting game on Sunday as well.
07:59Yes, that's it mate.
08:01As I mentioned, Rotorilie and Hillwood are going to battle.
08:05Georgetown has got the hosting gig for that one.
08:09It's last year's grand finalists playing off.
08:15That was a great grand final, which Rotorilie won by 10 points.
08:20As I mentioned, there's some suspended players coming back.
08:23Hillwood have just had this dramatic win against Bridge North, against the odds.
08:27They hadn't been in the top five side until then.
08:30My tip for that is that I think Rotorilie will be strong enough to win by 20 points this weekend.
08:37Brilliant.
08:39For my side of the fence on Div 1, we've got a bit of a contrasting run-in.
08:44Bridport probably didn't expect to be in this position in a preliminary final just two years out after being in recess.
08:50It's a great story.
08:51They're playing some amazing footy.
08:52Won 8 of their last 9.
08:54For Old Scotch, I think they'll be pretty disappointed with how last weekend panned out.
08:59They're probably the most talented team in the competition.
09:02I think it's probably correct to them that they've earned that double chance.
09:06This is what it's all about.
09:08I do expect them to win, but for them it's going to be about reproducing their best footy that they probably just failed to produce on Saturday.
09:17That's out at Moreton Park in Evandale, which isn't an obvious choice for finals.
09:25It does lead me in to everyone's...
09:29It's a landmark segment nowadays.
09:32It's handies hard hitters.
09:37So Brian, you just mentioned there's a game out of Georgetown between two teams based in town.
09:50Now we've got Old Scotch hosting a game at a ground that isn't theirs.
09:55I suppose, what is with all the secrecy about the fixtures?
10:01I think there's probably a very good reason why, but I don't think we maybe have heard enough about it.
10:06Yeah, and the question is, should the finals venues be more transparent?
10:12I guess, and the reasons why...
10:16Just to start with, obviously in life there are reasons for things and we understand that.
10:23I guess my experience of reporting on the league for the last three seasons is that we're just not really told why a ground was picked on merit.
10:33We're just told vaguely why grounds may or may not be picked.
10:40I think that it would be real value to the readers and the fans of the game just to know why was Evandale picked, why was Georgetown picked for this particular week?
10:48And then we can all, whether you like it or not, at least we know why it was picked.
10:53But right now we're kind of criticising something we don't know the full story to.
10:58So that's my take, mate.
10:59Yeah, I suppose to further that point, NTCA ground has obviously not been chosen now for two straight weeks.
11:04Despite Old Scotch, Seniors and Reserves being the home team for the Hillwood fixture and now this Evandale fixture.
11:11Unfortunately enough for the Reserves, they're playing Evandale in that game who finished fourth, but they'll be at their home grounds.
11:19I suppose for them it might feel a bit unjust.
11:22I suppose, yeah, I pretty much agree with everything you say.
11:27Just let us know because then it doesn't really matter what we think.
11:32We have an answer.
11:34I will just quickly say this.
11:36NTFA President Damien Ryan did address this, I suppose, in a more general sense last week.
11:41He said,
11:42When our finals committee is deciding where games are held, there's a lot of things that are taken into consideration, not necessarily where they finish on the ladder.
11:50It's got to do with the venue, the ground, the ability for clubs to be able to host finals.
11:55These are all the things taken into consideration.
11:57We do try and have a basic plan before finals start, but we need to be fluid through that period.
12:03So I suppose, yeah, that's more, as you mentioned, speaking in a general sense.
12:06But it would be nice maybe to get a specific explanation week on week.
12:10I think that's all we have time for.
12:12Thank you again for joining us and we'll catch you for the next one.