The Examiner's Ben Hann and Brian Allen unpack and discuss sports news from across Northern Tasmania.
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00:00Hello, and welcome to another episode of The Press Box. My name's Ben Hand. Joined alongside
00:12me is Josh Partridge. Brian Allen is interstate at the moment, so he won't be able to join
00:17us. We'll, first of all, explain our absence from your screens last few weeks. We've had
00:22a mixture of illness and, in my case, concussion, but we've been all cleared to return. So,
00:28we do have a very special episode from UTAS Stadium, obviously, ahead of the TSL Grand
00:33Final, the final ever TSL Grand Final between North Launceston and Lauderdale. But, first
00:39of all, it's everyone's favourite segment, Numerology.
00:42So, Joshua, in light of it being Episode 67, this number in sport, I have a bit of a throwback
00:57for you. Australian Jack Gregory hit a 67-ball tonne against South Africa in 1921. It was
01:06the fastest test century for 65 years until Viv Richards did the same, or hit a 56-ball
01:13tonne in 1986 against England. So, for 65 years, Jack Gregory's 67-ball tonne was the
01:21fastest. That's pretty remarkable if you ask me.
01:25Pretty good. But, we do have more important matters to get onto. Obviously, first of all,
01:31we'll recap the last couple of weeks with Miss Josh. Just on the weekend, we obviously
01:36started off with the NTFA Premier Grand Finals, and you covered one in particular, a female
01:42who had an exciting day, let's just say.
01:45Yeah, so Lucy Cooper, she's a Bridge North player, and she played in the Bridge North
01:50Premiership that they won by 22 points, I think it was, over OLS. Then, she sung the
01:54team song, did everything that they had to do, and then got in her car and drove 150
01:58k's to go play a game of hockey, where they won their grand final, the Queechee Penguins.
02:03So, she won two medals in the space of six hours, but she wasn't finished there. She
02:07managed to win the Greater Northern League Hockey Best and Fairest as well. So, she's
02:12had a pretty good day, Lucy, and she's a fantastic person to interview, and someone, obviously,
02:19who's incredibly dedicated to their sports. While her importance goes on hockey, hockey's
02:26her leading sport, as she's a member of the Tassie team, she was able to obviously do
02:30both and win everything there is to be won, pretty much.
02:33Yeah, a brilliant story, obviously. Got it done out here, and then, as you mentioned,
02:37had to do that long journey to Burnie. A terrific effort. It was just one of the four grand
02:44finals played on that day. It started off with South Launceston's nail-biting eight
02:48of the eighteens victory, and then we had the reserves, where Longford won their fourth
02:53leg in a row, quite remarkably, in the reserves, and then saved for the biggest game last.
02:59It was a bit of an up-and-down contest. I think it was probably a matter of big moments.
03:03Longford didn't quite take theirs. South did take theirs. I suppose, how did you set the
03:07contest?
03:08Yeah, I think, especially up forward, Longford really struggled with their marks. It wasn't
03:12Zach Morris' day. He really struggled to grip some of the marks up forward that he's
03:17been renowned for since coming back to Tasmania after since in the VFL and the Sandford. But,
03:24yeah, as you said, South Launceston just took their big moments. Their match winners stood
03:28up. Cody Lowe obviously won the two medals and then was runner-up in the best and fairest
03:34for the league the day after. He really came to the fore and really dominated around the
03:38ground for South.
03:40Absolutely, and obviously you've got big moments from Fooney, who kicked that goal from the
03:44boundary. That's a great goal to kick in a grand final with just a few seconds remaining.
03:48Brad Dodds after the three-quarter time siren. A well-deserved flag, I think, for South Launceston,
03:52who were the best team all year.
03:54We will move over to Div 1 just quickly. Obviously, Old Scotch cleaned up the grand finals on
04:02that day with the Meander Valley getting their first ever NTFA Premiership, a great story
04:05for the Western club, I suppose you'd call them. But I want to talk about something that's
04:10happened more recently, which is St. Pat's, obviously, moving into that new Div 1 contest
04:15that we're all so excited about. And they're not here to muck around, Josh. Alex Russell
04:22and Jake Kilby, obviously, former Premiership player and coach, respectively, but they have
04:27since used that Launceston connection to sign none other than Joby Harper and also a two-time
04:34Hudson medalist, Dylan Riley. How exciting is this, I suppose, for that already pretty
04:39exciting competition?
04:40Yeah, I think as soon as the regional footy model was announced, there were always whispers
04:46that it would be perfect for the likes of Joby Harper to come back, having finished
04:51up TSL last year. And I suppose I'd heard whispers all the time, and you're just like,
04:56oh yeah, he'll go back to Lonnie. And then as soon as it was announced that he was going
04:59to St. Pat's, it was like, wow, this is going to be exciting. And then a couple of days
05:03later, you get the news that we've got someone that's almost as big coming as well, and you're
05:08like, wow, what's going on here? And St. Pat's have obviously been able to get some fantastic
05:13names to join their list and make that Division 1 competition a really intriguing one for
05:19next season.
05:20Yeah, absolutely. Expect a lot more where that came from in terms of player movement,
05:23I think both ways, up into that Premier League and down into that Division 1. Even Division
05:272, we've got Evandale making some moves as well. It's going to be a really busy offseason,
05:31and we're going to try our best to cover absolutely all of it. But we will go on to the final game
05:38of the Tasmanian footy calendar for Launceston, which is the TSL Grand Final play here at
05:43UTAS Dave at 2.30 on Saturday. We've got a very historic day for the Bombers, well for
05:50both Bombers, as it turns out. Yeah, I suppose, take me through, initially, your thoughts
05:56about this being the final game of the TSL, and I suppose what people can expect.
06:01Yeah, I think there's two sides to the coin. Obviously, it's disappointing that this iteration
06:07of the TSL is coming to an end after 16 years, but obviously the model's been a bit of a
06:12flawed one since the Northwest teams dropped out, so it hasn't really been a statewide
06:15competition, and shifting back to the regional models is what AFL Tas saw best. And I think
06:22on Saturday, it's going to be a really big celebration, especially of North Launceston's
06:26history. They've invited every player that's played any form of the TSL since 2009 to come
06:34and reflect on their history within the competition, and I had a chat to a couple of legends of
06:40North Launceston through the week, and they were talking about just how sad it is, but
06:46how I guess they'll be able to remember the history and all that by Saturday, and obviously
06:52North Launceston could get the chance to add a sixth state league flag to their collection.
06:58Yeah, absolutely, and there's one player in particular who's been there through the whole
07:02thing. He was on it again for his 10th TSL team of the year. The club, once again, cleaned
07:08up in that. It's a list that might be a lot different next year, but for now, at least,
07:13how good, I suppose, was it for the club to be able to celebrate something like nine team
07:19of the year players?
07:20Yeah, they had nine players in the team of the year, obviously led by Brad Cox Goodger,
07:24as you were alluding to there. He was named captain and made it for the 10th time in a
07:28row, and not time in a row, just time in general, which equaled Jay Bowden from Glenorchy, his
07:33record. So for someone like Brad, he's played his whole career within the TSL. He literally
07:38debuted Anzac Day 2009, which was the first year when the TSL came back, and he's still
07:43playing now. So yeah, for him to lead, I guess, the North Launceston crew that were
07:49in the, I think it was five first-timers they had in the team of the year. So it obviously
07:54shows how much the North Launceston landscape's changed, and I guess how good their young
08:00crop is coming through.
08:01Yeah, absolutely, and I'll finish off with, in terms of Saturday's game, with your prediction.
08:06No pressure, but we will hold you to this. So Lauderdale are coming in. They beat Clarence
08:12by one point in the preliminary final. That can obviously go one of two ways. They can
08:15be a bit buggered from the clash, or they can come out all guns blazing. But I reckon
08:21North Launceston obviously haven't lost all year, but I still think a grand final's going
08:25to make it a bit closer than what it would have been in the past. So I'm going to go
08:29North Launceston by 17 points, with Brad Cox-Goodger as the Bulldog medalist for best on ground.
08:35The Northern fans will be much happier with that answer. Speaking of which, I will just
08:39give a quick shout-out to Brian, who got his prediction wrong, unfortunately. Couldn't
08:45back up his winning team and margin last year on the dot. He managed to get the margin wrong
08:51by an entire two points with the winning team. So better luck next time, Brian, is all I'll
08:57say to that. We'll finish off with, I think, the landmark now of the Pressbox, which is
09:03Handy's hard hitters.
09:10So, obviously, the content out here is going to look a little bit different moving forward.
09:14So we're not going to have any more TSL. The Utah stadium's about to go under a massive
09:18redevelopment that's due to be done by the end of 2027. And with that, Grant O'Brien,
09:23the Tasmanian Devils chair, said that AFL's biggest clubs will be playing in Launceston
09:28in that first year when they're sharing duties with Bellarive Oval instead of the new stadium.
09:35With that in mind, who is a team you'd most like to see play against the Tassie Devils
09:40in the AFL?
09:42I think the first one that comes to mind, you have to have Collingwood here. I mean,
09:46Scott Penderbridge played 400 games in the AFL. He hasn't played a home-and-away season
09:50game out here. So I think he probably wants to be running around, but you never know because
09:55Father Time hasn't really caught up to old Scott yet. But yeah, you'd love to have Collingwood
10:01out here, and on that same token, obviously Carlton. And then from there, it'd be really
10:08interesting to see, I guess, who they see fit to come down. Obviously, you'd be thinking
10:13the likes of Richmond, I suppose. All those three teams have played pre-season games here,
10:17but I suppose to get them down here for home-and-away games would be massive. What about you?
10:22Yeah, like Geelong and Melbourne are two other teams as well who have really not ever really
10:26had a chance to play football down here. For me, I actually would be really looking forward
10:30to the first time the Devils play the Hawks. I think it will be here. I think it's a natural
10:34fit that it'll be here. And I think that's probably going to be the Devils' first
10:40direct route for a potential rivalry game, and I think that's the sort of thing that
10:44will be welcome for a team that's going to be alone in its own state. It's going to be
10:48looking for those sorts of rivalries that aren't as easy to come by. I reckon that's
10:52all the time we have for this week. Thank you again for joining us. We'll be back for the next one.