Railways coach signals loss as a turning point

Railways coach Wayne Stubber believes his side’s gallant 49-point loss to reigning premiers North Albany can be the turning point in their season, despite the injury-hit Tigers falling away in the second half of the round 6 encounter at Tigerland on Saturday afternoon.

The Tigers have been ravaged by injury so far in 2016 and went into the clash against the Kangas missing 10 players who had made league appearances already this season.

Coen Marwick, Jack Hastie, Liam Nyhan, Zak Hortin, Beau Ewen, Craig Frost, Chris Wallace, Laurie Dowsett, Nathan Woods and Tom Palfrey made up the Tigers’ extensive injury list while adding to their pain was the unavailability of Shane Braimbridge, Will Matson and Hayden Smart.

The Tigers blooded five debutants as a result and fielded one of their most inexperienced league teams in several years, but that failed to bother them in the first half as they frustrated the Kangas right across the ground.

The Kangas are not without their own injuries and played without key players Matt Orzel, Stef Ericson, Nick Barrow, Elliott Smith, Regan Lloyd and Scott Mackenzie but they failed to put the Tigers to the sword in the first half.

Leading by 14 points at quarter time, the Kangas were kept goalless, kicking against the breeze in the second term as the Tigers booted one major through Josh Alison and wasted a number of other chances to reduce the margin to six points.

Playing with desperation around the stoppages, the Tigers tackling was terrific as they failed to allow the Kangas the space and spread they usually enjoy.

However, that changed in the third quarter as the Kangas got on top, winning a number of decisive clearances and getting clean inside 50 entries that resulted in the visitors kicking four goals, two of which came through spearhead Daniel Parker.

Parker added two more goals in the final term as the Kangas pushed the margin beyond 50 points on their way to a fifth victory, 12.13 (85) to 4.12 (36).

The Tigers slumped to their fourth loss of the season but Stubber was heartened by his side’s performance and the fact they got through the game without any further injuries.

“We were extremely undermanned and we knew we had to make a contest,” he said.

“All I asked for was effort and I got 100 per cent effort.

“We had more scoring shots in the first half and with such an inexperienced side I was stoked with our performance.

“It was the most intensity we’ve played with all season and hopefully that will get the boys going and kick-start our season.”

The Tigers were served well by gangly defender Tayler Neale while midfielders Matt Van Schayk, Zane Marwick and Logan Stubber were also terrific.

The Kangas played much better in the second half, led by midfielders Matt Smith and Brock Ramsay, while defender Alec Haskins was in vintage form before hurting a hamstring.

Even though the Kangas scored a comfortable win in the end, coach Craig Dew was frustrated by the opening half.

“The guys they put out there had a real crack and we played dumb football, our kicking and handball skills were awful,” Dew said.

“We improved that in the second half and class in the end probably shone through.

“We stuck to playing how we wanted to in the second half and moved the ball much better.”

The Kangas’ win was soured by the loss of ruckman Stewart Davies to a broken collarbone that is likely to keep him out for at least six weeks but star Geoff Wynne returned to action for the first time this year in the reserves.