Tigers put Kangas to the sword in final quarter

A dominant final term from Railways has helped them make an emphatic statement, thumping reigning premiers North Albany by 64 points in the top of the table clash at Collingwood Park on Sunday afternoon.

The Tigers moved two games clear on top of the ladder as they dealt the Kangas their heaviest defeat in more than six years and remain undefeated after six rounds of the Great Southern Football League.

Youngster Nelson Kent was superb through the midfield and proved a real handful up forward as he finished with a game-high five goals while the work of midfielder Joel Want, Kenton Gibbs (four goals) and defender Mitch Green was pivotal in the 17.10 (112) to 7.6 (48).

The Kangas went in without key trio Matt Orzel, Stef Ericson and Mitch Lenegan, and were unable to contain the Tigers in the last term as they kicked seven goals to one.

It was the home side’s biggest loss since round 3, 2012, when they lost to Tigers at the same ground by 117 points.

The loss was compounded by a knee injury to Jacob Hobbs, believed to be a strained medial ligament, while Nic Barrow (split webbing) and Michael Trevenen (concussion) failed to finish the game.

Kent kicked two opening-quarter goals as his side led by 19 points in the physical contest and the visitors managed to stretch their lead to 27 by three-quarter-time, but the Kangas were still alive after goals by hard-working Ray Padfield, captain Graham Ross and Jyrin Woods in the third.

The Tigers booted the first five goals of the fourth quarter to all but end any hope of a Kangas comeback and only Ross’ second major momentarily halted the Tigers’ charge as they waltzed to a commanding win.

Zane Marwick kicked three classy goals and still had plenty of impact despite copping a tag from Luke Chambers, while Logan Stubber returned from a hip injury to kick 3.2 playing as a deep forward.

Gibbs finished with 4.3 and was a great target all day and Want’s clearance work was terrific as well.

Kent won the match day ball for Talk To A Mate Round as best-on-ground judged by the umpires.

Tigers coach Craig Frost said his side continued to get an even spread of contributors.

“They applied a lot of pressure but I felt after half-time we started to get on top,” he said.

“It was pleasing to play four quarters of consistent footy.

“Our pressure was really good and our tackling as well.

“Today was important for us.

“If we dropped this we went back to second and we know how important it is to finish in the top two.

“Everyone stood up and that’s been a real positive for us in the early part of the season.”

The Kangas were well led by Padfield, who worked tirelessly throughout the match, while big man Stuart Parker was impressive and Jack McPhee found plenty of the ball.

“It was a contested game and I thought our kids got showed up a bit today and we were really skinny down back,” Kangas coach Craig Dew said.

“It was disappointing to finish like that.

“We really rolled over in the last (quarter). We gave ourselves a chance even with our outs but they were far too classy and their foot skills hurt us. We got exposed by a better side.”