Round 18 - Saturday 20 August, 2016
Riverina Football Netball League
Venue: Robertson Oval 2.10pm
Umpires: Matt Tom, Peter Alexander and Luke Olsen (RUA)
Wagga Tigers ... .. 4.3 .. 8.6 .. 14.9 .. 20.13 (133) 
Griffith ...................0.0 .. 0.1 .. 0.3 .. 0.8 (8)
WAGGA TIGERS: Lachlan Myers, Dylan Morton, D McCormack; Campbell Lovell, Dale Walker, Pat O'Connell; Lahn Shepherd, Jacob Osbeiston, Harvey Daniher; Brendan Myers, Brady Morton, Nick Ryan; Jackson Kelly, John Buchanan, Rob Tuohey; Brad Graham, Shaun Campbell (c-c), Jake Gaynor; Jesse Manton, Nathan Cooke, Shaun Flanigan
GRIFFITH: Guy Orton, James Taylor, Jacob Conlan; Sam Foley, James Toscan, Jonathon Gastin; Sam Daniel, Will Griggs, Daniel Peruzzi; Alex Blissett, Alex Birch, Michael Johns; Ben Tarr, Casey Moore, Dean Crack; Nathan Richards, Royce Johns, Ben King; Ben McRae, Tyler Bruns, Luke Peruzzi
GOALS
Wagga: B Morton 3, J Kelly 3, L Myers 3, J Buchanan 3, R Tuohey 3, N Ryan 2, S Campbell 2, D Walker
BEST PLAYERS
Wagga: J. Kelly, J. Manton, N. McCormack, B. Myers, L. Shepherd, N. Ryan
Griffith: N Richards, J Toscan, G Orton, J Gastin, J Taylor, B King

A summary of match report, with thanks
Griffith director of coaching Adrian Pavese wants his team to forget all about Saturday’s horrific 125-point loss to Wagga Tigers. The Swans are about to embark on their first finals series in 10 years, but it was overshadowed by their biggest loss of the year in the final round.

Pavese wants his team to move on quickly as they prepare to take on two-time reigning premiers Collingullie-Glenfield Park on Sunday.

“You just have to forget about it, you’ve just got to move on,” Pavese said. “As I just said to the boys, it’s taken us 10 years to get this opportunity. “I think every club throughout a season will have one of those days and we’ve had one of those days. “We just found out.

But we don’t throw it out, we know if we stick to some sort of structure then we can be all right.” 
Tigers got on top early and got better as the day went on as they provided Griffith with an unwanted headache a week out before the finals, 20.13 (133) to 0.8 (8) at Robertson Oval. Tigers' dominance started in the midfield but the performance of their defence group laid the platform for the big win. The Tigers defence did not give Griffith’s forwards a chance and then provided plenty of drive on the rebound.

The Swans only managed one behind in the opening half and then finished goallesss for the day. The only shining light for Griffith was teenage ruckman Nathan Richards, who continued to impose himself around the ground. Griffith director of coaching Adrian Pavese put the performance down to a bad day at the office. “It was just one of those days, mate,” Pavese said. “I think we have been making mistakes a lot in the past four to five weeks and we just had a good side that absolutely poleaxed us and made us pay for everything we did.”

The Swans will need to recover quickly. They will play an elimination final against a rampant Collingullie-GP at Ganmain Sportsground. Boosting the Swans will be Jordan Iudica and Mick Duncan who return next week.

(By Matt Malone – The Area News, Monday August 22, 2016).

 

OTHER MATCHES - SAT: Collingullie-GP 26.17 (173) def Narrandera 9.4 (58), Mangoplah-CUE 8.12 (60) drew Coolamon 9.6 (60), Turvey Park 5.3 (33) def by Leeton-Whitton 17.13 (115); Ganmain-GGM, bye.

Reserves: Wagga Tigers 12.13 (85) def Griffith 4.3 (27)
Goals: J Pianto 2, K Ruyg 2
Best Players: J Keenan, D Catanzariti, K Hume, J Heffer, R Irvin, G Rovere
Under 17: Wagga Tigers 11.8 (74) def Griffith 8.9 (57)
Goals: L Killalea 2, R Greenaway 2, A Coldwell 2, I Potts, T Clarke
Best Players: A Coldwell, L Franco, T Clarke, M Agnew, I Potts, R Matheson