Round 17 "TIGER TALK" - with Tom Taylor

Round 17 vs. Swan Districts / Foxtel Cup Semi Final vs. West Adelaide

After a nail-biting win over South Fremantle in Round 16 the boys were keen to improve and get a big win over one of the form sides in the comp, being Swan Districts. Both sides went in boasting near full strength sides with the inclusions of Sandover medallist Luke Blackwell and gun midfielder Andrew Foster sure to boost the tigers on-ball brigade.

Unfortunately we could not hold off a rampaging Swans outfit in the first half, giving away cheap goals and too many 50m penalties. This all changed in the 3rd quarter however, with the midfielders making the most of Mark Seaby’s dominance in the ruck. We fought back to get within a goal at the last change with some grand ball movement and hard attack on the ball.

But once again we found a way to drop off in the last and let the Swans run all over us to lose by 40 points. A very disappointing result and one which will no doubt stick in the minds of all players and coaches as the season nears the end.

There was a very limited break after the game with many of the boys having to back up and play on the Tuesday night in Adelaide in the Foxtel cup semi-final against West Adelaide.

The ice baths and recovery techniques were used thoroughly by many players over Sunday and Monday to give the body the greatest opportunity for recovery.

These trips are a fantastic opportunity for many of the players to gain stronger relationships with one another and spend a decent amount of time catching up on whatever is happening in everyone’s lives.

We took a relatively young team over with Darcy Cameron, Steven Edwards, Sam Lamont and my brother Ben making their debuts for the footy club. This was a very proud moment for not only my family but also the families of the boys and they can all be congratulated on handling themselves with aplomb. Hopefully Ben and I can play a few more games together in the future.

Unfortunately the result didn’t go our way on a slippery AAMI stadium surface, but the boys really dug in and had a red-hot crack and if it weren’t for some errant kicking in front of goal the result could have looked a whole lot different.

After the disappointment of losing the game the boys tried to get into a relaxed mood and enjoy each other company in the final hours in Adelaide before our flight home the next morning. Lets just say the flight home the next day was a bit quieter than usual. Nevertheless the boys all had a great time and could look forward to the weekend off with a bye coming up for Round 18.

From now on it’s all footy, footy, footy with a lot to work on over the next few weeks leading into the finals. We start off with Subiaco at Medibank this weekend and would love it if as many supporters could get down to cheer on the mighty tigers as we ramp it up leading into September.

by Tom Taylor