Round 5 - Sunday May 10, 2009
Riverina Football Netball League
Venue: Griffith Exies Oval 2.10pm
Umpires: -----
Griffith .................. 3.1 .. 4.2 .. 4.4 .. 4.7 (31) 
Wagga Tigers ..... 3.2 .. 11.5 .. 18.10 .. 22.14 (146)
GRIFFITH: Royce Johns, Blair Alban, Simon Spiers; Jonathon Gastin, Matthew Kenny, James Fallon, Jason Bertacco, Michael Duncan, Ben Ford; James Nancarrow, Matthew Noonan, Dean Crack; Rodney Simpkin, Aaron Cocks, Kris Duncan; Michael Harris, Jeff Mickan, Brett Owen; Luke Piccolo, Sam Huxtable*, Michael Tyndall
WAGGA TIGERS: Ryan Miller, Mitch Colvin, Jacob Osbeiston; Joshua Gaynor, Chris Jackson, Lahn Shepherd; Pat Noonan, Damien Papworth, Trent Garner; Jacob Powell, Andrew Priest, Alex Van Ruiswyk; Shannon Terlich, Marc Shepherd, Pat Delaney, Lucas Denton, James Hodges, Nathan McDonald; Sam Ryan, Warren Bartlett, Shane Gow
GOALS
Griffith: R Simpkin 3, J Nancarrow 
Wagga: S Terlich 7, M Shepherd 6, N McDonald 3, J Powell 2, A Priest 2, P Delaney, W Bartlett 
BEST PLAYERS
Griffith: M Duncan, B Owen, B Ford, R Simpkin, B Alban S Spiers 
Wagga: A Priest, J Osbeiston, S Terlich, L Denton, A Van Ruiswyk, C Jackson 

A summary of match report, with thanks
The Griffith Swans have been totally outclassed to be decimated by the Wagga Tigers by a 109-point margin yesterday, 140 to 31.

After a highly competitive first quarter saw both teams going neck to neck. The opening minutes of the second quarter saw the peak of the Swans performance, trailing by one point, 26-25. But the side completely fell away after a succession of goals from the Tigers, preventing the Swans from scoring a goal for the remainder of the game.

For coach Gerard Toscan, being devastated was an understatement, after the team had hopes of beating the Tigers to move up the into the top five on the ladder. "I think despondency started seeping through into too many players after Wagga got a few goals, and we just capitulated too easily," he said. "We could not judge the footy in the air, and we only took about three contested marks."
The team was also taken down by the loss of star players Matt Noonan and Mick Duncan to injury midway through the game, and with many other players sore after plenty of tough tackles from Wagga. "Matt Noonan didn't come out again after half-time with an Achilles heel problem which will keep him out for a couple of weeks," Toscan said.

"And Mick Duncan has gone to hospital with a shoulder injury, so he probably won't be playing next week." 
The failure of the side to prevent Tigers' goals or maintain possession has forced Toscan to review all aspects of the game.

"Right now, you start to question some of the guys' desire for the footy, because it has to be four quarters at a time, week in week out," he said. "Today's performance was not good enough for this competition."

The Swans go up against MCUE next week, a game Toscan is dreading after MCUE thrashed the Tigers the week before. "After a humiliation like this, you would hope pride kicks in," he said.  (By Nick Pearson   - The Area News, Monday May 11, 2009).

 

OTHER MATCHES - SAT: Eastern Hawks 9.10 (64) def by Coolamon 18.14 (122), Ganmain-GGM 14.17 (101) def North Wagga 9.3 (57); SUN: Leeton-Whitton 16.16 (112) def Narrandera 9.11 (67), Turvey Park 11.9 (75) def Mangoplah-CUE 9.8 (62).

Reserves: Wagga Tigers 7.7 (49) def Griffith 5.8 (38)
Goals: G Argus 5
Best players: H Shaw, D Best, W Tyndall, P Crawford, G Foley, N Campbell
Under 17: Wagga Tigers 19.13 (127) def Griffith 6.2 (38)
Goals: C Moore 2, A Tarr, C Burge, S Brennan, D Bartter