Spirit was high, confidence was strong and the preparation was good leading in to our season opener but unfortunately the result for our round 1 match against Killarney Vale Bombers at Adelaide street oval did not go entirely as we’d planned.

The 40 point final deficit was probably not a fair indication of the relatively even contest of the days play which saw a ferocious first quarter of the year from our Tigers and a 1 point lead at the first break. The opening term was highlighted with fierce attack on the play, outstanding defensive pressure from the forward end, decisive movements out of defence and first use of the ball in the middle and suggested that our BD Cup men were on the hunt for the early points.
The second quarter told a different tale, however much of the turn around could reasonably be attributed to a controversial moment just before the start of the second quarter siren with Gosford realising there was a19th player on field. The quarter hadn’t started and the central umpire was outside of the centre square when the KVAFC captain called for a head count with our player nearing the interchange, just 10m from the boundary. Umpire Ryan Stanton was very swift to uphold the request, which saw the commencement of the quarter unnecessarily halted. All players were marched to the centre and Gosford were penalised for the additional player with a free kick awarded to the Bombers.
Further controversy came about when KVAFC ground staff incorrectly removed Gosford’s entire score from the scoreboard. The ruling is to remove any score from the quarter in play from the offending team but with no play commenced at that point, scores should have remained unchanged.
With the farcical start of the second quarter and believing their score had been wiped from a quarter time lead back to 0.0 was enough to significantly dent the momentum the Tigers had forged and upon commencement of play struggled to respond to three swift unanswered goals by Killarney Vale. Momentum and a lead the Tigers were unable to assuage for the rest of the day.
On a perfect football afternoon the contest remained tight between the two sides with the difference between them being the finish to each teams forward entry. Despite inside 50 tally being similar for each team, it was The Bombers who were consistently able to see the ball through the big sticks where The tigers were unable to convert as consistently.
The Bombers were also far crisper with their short kick game, held more contested marks and ownied the corridor of Adelaide Street. Their switch kick being a punishment for Gosford Tigers over the final 3 quarters.
It was not all dark tidings for Gosford who were without at least 5 of their starting lineup from 2020. The defensive lines were extremely well served by their back 6 with Ollie ‘Occy’ South standing tall amongst them in just his 3rd Senior match. Adam ‘Sneaky’ Miller was superb in the ruck and truly dominated that position for his team. With some control to his delivery of the ball in the future matches he will no doubt prove to be a powerful asset for the rest of the year.
Well worth noting was the sublime performance of Kyall Walford who was inspired by his move back to Tigerland giving the club a huge return for his signing. Playing against his former club ‘Woofy’ was a prime mover in the midfield despite getting some added attention from his former team mates. He was joined by his brother Tadd on field, a club legend and another very welcome return to the fold this year who also served the Tigers admirably. Seeing them both in action was certainly a featured highlight for anyone at the game familiar with our clubs history.
A pair of goals each to Full Forward Scott Manuelle, Dan Rodger and Adam Miller were promising signs that could have been a lot more with some neater delivery into the frontline.
Despite suffering the 40point loss to start its campaign the players are aware that the scoreline was not an equitable representation of where they are at and what they are capable of this year. The match has pinpointed aspects of their game that need attention as well as those that are working and coach Hopper is confident that his team will activate a real shift in our massive Round 2 home fixture against Cardiff at Adcock Park when all 4 of our senior teams take the field for our first home game fixture in 2021.
The seniors thank all our supporters who were at the match with particular thanks to Lily, Nikita and Amy from our Women’s Team and Rich and Ayden from NPU15 for running our water. Also Jacob Tancred and Cooper Mackay for their assistance in the Pink Shirt.