Tigers Women roar into history books

The Tigers women team have become the premier side on the Darling Downs in their maiden season. They defeated the 2014 premiership side the Dalby swans in a tough, hard fought match. It remained an exciting and physical match til the final siren where the Tigers took the victory by 22 points.

The first quarter saw the girls take the field with a few nerves but they quickly disappeared when the game began with the Tigers getting off to a very strong start. The team was able to keep the ball inside their forward 50 which allowed Ruth Wilson to score the first goal of the game. Concern faced the Tiger coaches as Jayde Struhs was brought to the bench after a heavy tackle and this left a hole in the forward line. However the Tigers forward pressure continued, as did the excellent midfield work to allow the Tigers to kick another 2 goals from Racquelle Sutton and Nicole Richards for the quarter. The backline was too strong for the Swannies only letting in one minor score for the quarter.

The second quarter brought a more physical battle with limited scoring shots for both teams. The football remained within the centre of the ground for most of the quarter however was pushed into the Tigers forward line for 2 minor scores. Penny Dukes was unstoppable coming off the half back flank and being supported by Kesh Mitchell and April Chapman made for an invincible wall.

With the Tigers leading by 19 points at the half time break, the Swans had to find a way to keep themselves in the game, as they had been kept to 1 point by the Tigers defence. The Tigers were aiming to make the premiership quarter theirs however it did not exactly go to plan; the Swans highly determined to fight back with Danni Wall and Shaye Easton leading the way. Although most of the play was in the Tigers forward half, the Swans were able to get an important goal through Teegan Cutts, the Tigers battled away and had numerous shots on goal but were falling just short in the goal square, finally a goal to Tiffany Barrett gave the Tigers a bit of breathing space before a goal to Zimmorlei Farquharson just before 3 quarter time. The Tigers still holding a lead of 16 points.

The final quarter started much the same with the game played mainly in the Tiger half but they just couldn't get the goals on the board, although this time they were getting points. Dalby kicked the first goal of the last at the 10 minute mark to Alison Gaur. This brought the margin to the closest since the 1st quarter to 10 points. The Tigers didn't allow Dalby to use the momentum and get any closer as a great running goal to Jayde Struhs gave the advantage back to the Tigers. The Tiger forwards kept attacking but only kicking behinds and struck the behind post twice, before a strong mark and goal to Jayde in the goal square put the game beyond doubt with only 3 minutes to go. Both teams were out on their feet and finally the siren sounded to give the Tiger Women a courageous victory.

The game really was a battle of the defences with the Tigers defence being the stronger on the day.

Final Scores:

Toowoomba 3 . 0 .18 3 . 2 . 20 4 . 5 . 29 6 . 9 . 45

Dalby 0 . 1 . 1 0 . 1 . 1 2 . 1 . 13 3 . 5 . 23