Turvey Park kept their finals hopes alive with a 25-point win over arch-rival Wagga Tigers at Robertson Oval on Saturday.
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The Bulldogs spoiled Tigers’ premiership reunion party with a comfortable win in cold and miserable conditions, 11.11 (77) to 8.4 (52).
Turvey Park broke the game open with a six-goal third quarter that set up the victory. The Bulldogs played long and direct with key forwards Brad Ashcroft and Clint Shields getting right on top.
The Bulldogs led narrowly for most of the first half but extended their advantage from 11 points to a match-winning lead of 38 by the final change.
Tigers kicked the only two goals of the final term to narrow the final margin.
Turvey Park captain-coach Truman Carroll was pleased to get the win over the old enemy.
“It was a great win. Great to get the chocolates over our arch-enemy on their own deck and spoil their reunion,” Carroll said.
“It was good. We’ve got such a young side so it’s good to get some consistency across the park and get a good win.”
The win keeps Turvey Park just a game outside the top five but finals are not the focus of Carroll and the Bulldogs.
“We think we’re tracking along really good, we’re just not getting over the line, I guess. That’s what you get with a young team,” he said.
“We’re happy with the endeavour as we’re going along and in the back half of the year we hope to get some more wins, consistency and improvement.
“It’s more than a 12-month plan with this side. There’s so many young kids, it’s ridiculous. The girls in the office did our stats the other day and our average age is 19 with under 50 games experience.
“We’re trying to get that experience and build on it. We’re not putting any emphasis on the finals but are just looking to play a good brand of footy and consistent footy.”
Ashcroft and Shields both caused plenty of headaches for Tigers’ defence and finished with four goals each.
Matt Bailey gave the Bulldogs plenty of drive, Josh Ashcroft worked hard in the ruck all day, while young Alex Carroll did some really good things as well.
Nick Ryan continued his outstanding season with another strong display for Tigers. He kicked three goals in a losing team.
Ben Kelly and Ash Bennett battled hard throughout also but Tigers just did not have the personnel to seriously threaten the game.
Turvey Park now enjoy the bye, while Tigers will take on Ganmain-Grong Grong-Matong at Ganmain Sportsground next week.
