Australian Football

Match Report

The first of three Saturday afternoon matches sends us towards the beachside city of Glenelg and into the ACH Group Stadium where the Tigers hosted the Bulldogs. The last time these sides met, the Tigers went to the Ponderosa and came out with their third win of the year by 34 points. After a sleepy opening term, the Tigers awoke in the second and despite having an ordinary day with accuracy, didn't allow the Bulldogs much room to move. Centrals also had a dog-day afternoon in goal that day, scoring five goals from 17 scores. The Dogs are only barely staying out of the reach of the wooden spoon, they lost to the Panthers at home last week while the Tigers just roll on to a 15th straight victory against the Redlegs by 10 points.

As expected by many no doubt, the Tigers were not going to be too troubled by the inefficient Bulldogs side. But the Bays' opening term display would only see them ahead by 17 points at the first change, scoring 4.5 to two goals. They scored three minors in succession as well as a nine-minute period where the Dogs actually kept them somewhat quiet. That would be all but forgotten in the second term, where the Tigers rammed home four unanswered goals among their 6.1. The Dogs managed just 1.1 as the home side ran out to a 47-point lead going into the half-time break. What was there really to say, this was definitely the "men vs boys" thing right here. Over 30 more marks, more than double the ruck hit-outs and 11 more clearances. The only stat that the Bulldogs beat the Tigers at were the tackles, which was by just one. But as expected, on the scoreboard the Tigers were king. That gap would stretch out to almost 10 goals by the three quarter-time siren, the Tigers adding a further 4.3 to 2.3 to lead by 59 points at the final change. To the Dogs credit they did outscore the Tigers in the final term, just not by much. They would cut five points from the Tigers' final break lead, scoring 5.3 to 4.4 as they went down by nine goals in the end. 

Liam McBean kicked seven goals, but it was team-mate Brett Turner with best afield honours. He racked up 26 disposals, nine clearances and laid eight tackles.