Burgers Slip to Fourth on the Ladder
coburgtigers.com.au
Grant Scott
Round 15
Sandringham 9.1 13.5 17.5 21.11-137
Coburg Tigers 3.4 4.5 6.5 12.5-77
With a number of Richmond senior listed players injured, a somewhat depleted Burger side faced a tough assignment this week as they took on the second placed Sandringham Zebras at Trevor Barker Oval.
Kicking to the city end in greasy conditions, the Burger Boys were well and truly overwhelmed by a classier and stronger Zebra outfit in the first quarter, venerable Zebra full forward Nick Sautner and Melbourne senior listed player Brad Miller at centre half forward causing plenty of problems in the air for the Burger defence.
Only at the 12 minute mark courtesy of Cam Howatt did the Burger side register its first major, but already the Zebras had 3 on the board from Sautner, Shane Valenti and ex-Richmond/Melbourne player Ezra Poyas, who was also gathering plenty of the ball at ground level.
Struggling to win possession through the midfield, the flow of opportunities for the Zebra forwards continued for the remainder of the first quarter, Sautner grabbing a further 2 goals and the Zebras running up a 9 goal to 3 tally - singles coming from Greg Stafford and Vinnie Randello for the Burgers.
The second quarter, whilst still a struggle for the Burger midfield, was an improvement in terms of containment, with the wiry Travis Jorgensen and Mark Chaffey the prime resistors in defence, and Shaun Huy’s tag of Brett Liddell also providing assistance. However, Sautner with a further 3 goals for the quarter was able to place the Zebras in a commanding position at half time, a 54 point margin the lead, the Burger’s solitary goal for the quarter coming from captain Travis Ronaldson who had been moved to full forward.
In somewhat of a replica of the second quarter, the Burgers again managed to quarantine the Zebras to just the 4 goals, albeit only able to score just the 2 themselves, the first coming from Ronaldson via an effort from outside the 50 metre mark and the second from Howatt who had also begun to gather some possession of the football.
Despite trailing by 66 points at the three quarter time break, with Jorgensen still providing some resistance in defence, and Richmond youngster Tom Roach initiating some much needed run off half back on occasion, a more settled Coburg outfit took the field for the final quarter.
True to their spirit for most of this season, the young Burgers battled on bravely against the odds in the last quarter, outscoring the Zebras with 6 goals to 4, Luke McGuane the main contributor with 3 from full forward and a freak goal from Cleve Hughes off the boundary line also a highlight. Still, the disappointing reality of the day was a 60 point loss for the Burgers.
However, thanks to a solid first half of the season, the Burgers still remain in 4th spot on the TRUenergy VFL ladder, finals football still just a few wins away.
A more pleasing result for Coburg this week was the effort of the reserves boys. Despite trailing for much of the day a draw was salvaged, youngsters Sam Robertson and Nat Caruso amongst the best. The Burger reserves remain inside the final 5 in 5th spot on the ladder.
This Sunday sees the Coburg Tigers take on arch rivals Port Melbourne back on their home turf at City Oval. The reserves start at 11.10 am, followed by the seniors at 2.00pm.
Both games are ‘must wins’ for the Burger Boys as they enter the home straight battle for a berth in the finals, so please get along and give them your support.
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