Tigers win wet slog, Lions prevail in a thriller at home

Railways maintained their winning start to the season while North Albany moved to outright second place after both sides recorded comfortable wins in round 5 of the Great Southern Football League competition at the weekend.

In the sole Sunday fixture, played in very wet conditions at Tigerland the home side proved far too strong as they marched to 5-0 with a 79-point win over Albany.

The Tigers kicked the only goal of the first term but were wasteful given their dominance but a four goal second quarter helped them open up a 39-point buffer at the main break.

With Joel Want superb around the stoppages and Mitch Green and Bodhi Stubber repelling well at half back the Tigers added seven majors in the last half as they won the slippery contest, 12.18 (90) to 1.5 (11).

Kleemann medallist Zane Marwick copped a heavy tag from Tait McLean and failed to have his usual impact but the work of Want, Green and Kenton Gibbs stood out across the four quarters.

The Tigers had 10 individual goal kickers and moved the ball well considering the weather as they won without player-coach Craig Frost and midfielder Logan Stubber.

The Sharks had their fair share of the ball but struggled forward of centre with their 40 inside 50s entries yielding just one goal.

Captain Rick Wallis was that goal kicker and he played well along with hard-working ruckman Stewart Davies and Jonas Mitchell.

In yesterday’s battle for second spot the Kangas moved a game clear of Mt Barker on the ladder after thumping them by 65 points at Sounness Park.

The Kangas got the flying start with a five goal to none opening term and fought off a third quarter fightback by the Bulls.

The margin was pulled back to 15 points midway into the third term before late goals to Jacob Hobbs and Taj Williams steadied the Kangas ship.

Williams booted four goals for the Kangas and Nick Barrow added three in the win, 15.11 (101) to 5.6 (36).

The visitors kicked away with a six goal to none final term spoiling Michael Wright's 200th game for the Bulls.

Meanwhile Royals notched their second win of the season after coming from behind in the final term to beat Denmark-Walpole by two points in a thriller at Centennial Stadium.

The Lions began well and led by seven points at half time before the Magpies kicked six goals in the third quarter to steal the advantage.

Midfield guns Ryan Gaerth and Jaden Guidi were highly influential for the visitors as they led by as much as 19 points.

However a late soccer off the ground from Joel Flick gave the Lions a sniff on the verge of three quarter time as the margin was trimmed to 13 points.

The Lions booted the first three goals of the last term through Harry Broomhall, Brandon Woods and then a second to Flick as they surged to the lead.

Inside the final four minutes Tyler Stone reduced the deficit to a single point but the Lions prevailed, 10.9 (69) to 9.13 (67).

The win was full of merit given the Lions lost big man Andrew Ruck to a hamstring injury in the first term and were without a number of their senior players including Rhys Jones, Henry Hodge and Ryan Kinnear.

Corey Ward, Michael McGlade and Cent Amores all strong contributors while Broomhall returned three goals up front.

The Magpies were left ruing another final quarter fade out and the Lions leapfrogged them into the top four as a result.

Still without prize recruit Clancee Pearce and also missing Brody Hickey, the Magpies relied heavily on Gaerth (three goals), Guidi and the Ropiha brothers.