NEAFL Round 6
NT Thunder v Sydney Swans Reserves
Saturday 28th April 2012 6.00 pm
TIO Stadium
While the seniors head south to face the Hawks at Launceston, the Reserves will travel in the opposite direction, flying (I assume!) to Darwin to face the inaugural NEAFL champions the NT Thunder. The Ressies will have to quickly acclimatise from the cool change that has enveloped Sydney over the past week to the warmer conditions with a maximum of 32C forecasted for Saturday. The Thunder, who split their home games between Darwin and Alice Springs, have won their past 17 games at TIO Stadium and will be one of the most formidable opponents for the Ressies this year.
Looking at the conference ladders below, the Swans moved back into a finals position after their mauling of the Tuggeranong Hawks last week while the Thunder similarly broke a 2 game losing streak, moving up to 4th on their ladder in the process.
Eastern Conference Ladder
Team Played Wins Losses Draws For Against Percentage Points Queanbeyan 4 3 1 0 556 353 157.51% 12 Hills Eagles 5 3 2 0 570 568 100.35% 12 Reserves 4 2 2 0 504 277 181.95% 8 Eastlake 4 2 2 0 416 380 109.47% 8 Ainslie 4 2 2 0 418 461 90.67% 8 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- UWS 4 2 2 0 343 448 76.56% 8 Belconnen 4 1 2 1 438 474 92.41% 6 Sydney Uni 4 1 3 0 368 434 84.79% 4 Tuggeranong 5 0 4 1 367 749 49.00% 2
Northern Conference Ladder
Team Played Wins Losses Draws For Against Percentage Points Gold Coast Suns 4 4 0 0 441 273 161.54% 16 Labrador 4 4 0 0 604 419 144.15% 16 Brisbane Lions 4 3 1 0 394 311 126.69% 12 NT Thunder 5 3 2 0 556 461 120.61% 12 Southport 4 3 1 0 413 355 116.34% 12 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Redland 5 2 2 1 617 599 103.01% 10 Aspley 4 2 2 0 451 432 104.40% 8 Broadbeach 4 1 2 1 368 425 86.59% 6 Mt Gravatt 5 1 4 0 408 580 70.34% 4 Morningside 5 0 5 0 307 540 56.85% 0
Past Meetings
First time these sides have met
Recent Form
Reserves
R1 UWS Away WIN 151-34
R2 BYE
R3 Gold Coast Home LOSS 55-91
R4 Ainslie Away LOSS 85-111
R5 Tuggeranong Home WIN 213-41
NT Thunder
R1 Morningside Home WIN 142-55
R2 Aspley Away WIN 126-113
R3 Southport Home LOSS 64-82
R4 Brisbane Lions Home LOSS 76-84
R5 Redland Away WIN 148-127
Last Round
Reserves 32.21 (213) defeated Tuggeranong 6.5 (41)
A convincing victory by the Reserves who put in a 4 quarter performance to easily defeat the struggling Hawks. Mitch Morton finally hit some form in Swans colours, putting in a 7 goal performance complemented with many goal assists. Trent Dennis-Lane and Tommy Walsh joined in the goal glut, bagging 5 goals each. Brett Meredith re-discovered some form after an injury interrupted pre-season
Goals: Morton 7, Dennis-Lane 5, Walsh 5, Gordon 3, Lamb 2, Moore 2, Meredith 2, Pyke, Kruger, Lynch, Cunningham, Barrett, Potter
Best: Dennis-Lane, Morton, Moore, Meredith, Wales, Heath
NT Thunder 22.16 (148) defeated Redland 19.13 (127)
An exciting shootout between the Thunder and Redland was decided in the 3rd quarter when the home team kicked ahead with a stunning 8 goals to 1 term. Star forward Darren Ewing bagged 11 goals in a stunning return to form while key position players Jason Roe, Kevin Vearncombe and Kenrick Tyrrell played a significant contribution in the win.
Goals: Ewing 11, Farrer 2, Campbell 2, Anderson, Ilett, Dignan, Dunne, Lawler, Collinson, McEwin
Best: Ewing, Dignan, Roe, Vearncombe, Tyrrell, Rioli
Team List
Listed players
Changes
# Name Games Goals Votes Notes 7 Brett MEREDITH 3 2 3 8 Trent DENNIS-LANE 4 13 11 10 Mitch MORTON 4 8 5 11 Jed LAMB 4 5 0 17 Tommy WALSH 4 7 10 Seniors extended bench 19 Tony ARMSTRONG 2 0 1 Seniors extended bench 28 Dylan McNEIL 4 2 1 33 Jarred MOORE 4 5 14 35 Campbell HEATH 4 0 5 38 Mike PYKE 4 5 3 42 Jack LYNCH 4 5 7 43 Eugene KRUGER 2 1 0 44 Harry CUNNINGHAM 3 1 0 45 Nathan GORDON 3 4 0 46 Shane BIGGS 2 1 0
In: Armstrong
Out:
At least 2 of Walsh, Armstrong, LRT and Smith will drop out of this squad and fly with the seniors to Launceston, one playing and the other emergency.
No further injuries or withdrawals which is a big boost. TDL returned to a more traditional forward role last week while Walsh went forward, swapping with Lynch near the end of the first quarter. He might find himself down back this week to counter the talls of the Thunder. Heath will need all the help he can get this week, with the NT side possessing the arsenal to kick plenty of goals.
Lamb has been sheepishly quiet in 2012, and a more definite role as a forward might see him make a bleat this week. McNeil, Moore, Meredith and Cunningham will need to feed off the taps of Pyke.
Academy Players/Topups
Changes
# Name Games Goals Votes Notes 47 Jackson POTTER 4 2 0 ? Mitch CRAWFORD 1 0 0 ? Jack DAVIS 2 0 0 ? Thomas GREEN 0 0 0 ? Andrew MOODY 2 0 0 ? Bradley PLUG 0 0 0 ? Jordan WEIR 1 0 0 ? Stephen WRAY 2 0 0 ? Alexander WYNN 0 0 0
In: Crawford, Green, Plug, Weir, West, Wray, Wynn
Out: Tim Barrett, Max Carter, Patrick Gillingham, Nukarin Lewington, Andrew Nixon, Nick Roberts, Tim Wales
Some Academy players return after their disastrous drubbing at the hands of GWS Academy last week.
Reserves leading goalkickers
- Trent Dennis-Lane 13
- Mitch Morton 8
- Tommy Walsh 7
For full list: 2012 Goalkickers - RWOwiki
Reserves leading votegetters
- Jarred Moore 14
- Trent Dennis-Lane 11
- Tommy Walsh 10
For full list: 2012 Best Votes - RWOwiki
Talking points
- TDL returned to the forward line last and took some trademark strong grabs finished off by some accurate kicking off his now familiar long run up.
- Morton finally fired for the Swans albeit against one of the weaker teams in the competition. In a tough away fixture, his younger teammates will be looking for him to lead the way up forward.
- Meredith had one of his best games for a while and will be looking to back it up with another solid showing here. He has struggled to string multiple games together in the past couple of years.
- Nippa Gordon has been named as a senior emergency a few times this year but has failed to impress the reserves coaches in the matches so far. As players such as Spangher, Smith and LRT return from injury he'll need to improve to remain in the mix.
NT Thunder Squad
- 2. Darren EWING
- 3. Matthew ARGUS
- 4. Brad VASSAL5
- 5. Jed ANDERSON
- 6. Julian LOCKWOOD
- 8. Kenrick TYRRELL
- 9. Ash DUNCAN
- 13. Lachlan ARGUS
- 15. Matthew ROSIER
- 16. Cameron ILETT (c)
- 17. Jake DIGNAN
- 18. Damian WILLIAMS Jnr.
- 19. Tavis PERRY
- 21. Nathan BROWN
- 24. Chris DUNNE
- 26. Jack LAWLER
- 28. Kevin VEARNCOMBE
- 29. Jason ROE
- 30. Patrick HEENAN
- 33. Ben RIOLI
- 35. Gerrard CUNNINGHAM
- 43. Joseph COLLINSON
- 44. Jack McEWIN
- 46. Paul CAMPBELL
- 49. Jerry WILSON
- 51. Braedon McLEAN
In: Heenan, Cunningham McLean, Wilson
Out: William FARRER
Shorter than the traditional full forward at 182cm, Ewing will pose the greatest danger for the Swans defenders, having an impressive record of 296 goals in 62 games with the Thunder in the past 3 years. He cracked the ton in last year's premiership triumph, finishing with 115 goals. He will be joined in the forward line by Gerrard Cunningham, who won the NTFL's goalkicking medal last year.
Jason Roe is a former Brisbane Lions defender who adds stability to the backline while the form of ruckman Kenrick Tyrrell, who has been able to control the ruck contests has pleased coach Daniel Archer
Summary
The Swans had a much improved away record last year but a lot will depend on how they acclimatise to the unfamiliar conditions. The heat and humidity factors have already been mentioned but they will also have to take into the account the larger playing area of TIO Stadium whose ground dimensions of 175m x 135m is as long as Subiaco but 10 metres wider. Will the fitness of the professionally trained squad prove to be the difference between the two teams?
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Originally Posted by ugg
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