TASMANIA opened yesterday's national under-16 football carnival in
Brisbane with a 36-point win over the Northern Territory at Coorparoo.
But coach Nick Probert said the team would have to improve on that
effort to defeat New South Wales - a narrow loser to Queensland - in its
next match at Southport on Tuesday.
"While I was pretty pleased with the win, we've got to take into
account the fact that against NSW we'll be coming up against bigger and
stronger bodies," Probert said after Tasmania's 15.14 (104) to 9.14 (68)
victory.
"And we won't be able to afford a fallout like we did in the third
quarter when the Northern Territory kept us goalless while kicking four
themselves.
"With the boys having to play three games in six days, we plan to
take them to Wet and Wild to help them with their rehab."
The star for Tasmania was Zane Murphy with 26 possessions and three
goals playing on the ball and across half-forward.
Lanky left-footer Aaron Cornelius also kicked three goals.
Others to shine were wingman Drew Bardenhagen with 22 grabs, Aaron
Joseph with 16 plus eight marks and fellow defenders Sam Cornish and Jay
Bowden.
Follower-forward Tom Collier dominated the hit-outs with 22 and
half-forward Beau Sharman was the game's leading goalkicker with four.
Tasmania's final game will be against Queensland at The Gabba on
Friday.
Final Scores
TASMANIA 15.14.104 def NORTHERN TERRITORY 9.14.68
GOALS TAS: Sharman 4, Murphy 3, Cornelius 3, O'Garey 1, McShane 1, Bell 1, Crane 1, Grima 1. GOALS NT: Roy 2, Mason 2, Rantanen 1, Cole-Manolis 1, McBean 1, Talbot 1, Ross 1.
BEST TAS: Murphy, Bowden, O'Garey, Cornish, Smith, Collier, Sharman.
BEST NT: Whitehurst, Roy, Toogood, Rolfe, Mason.
By David Stockdale - Mercury
Last Modified on 26/07/2005 09:05