| The cross-Tamar battle, the boys from Invermay at home to the boys from Riverside in what was supposed to
be match of the round. The game opened up with 2 goals in the opening 10 minuts of the game to North (perhaps should have
been 3, but Adam Street missed an easy one at the 5 minute mark) , but the Blues fought back to kick 2 goals in as many
minutes (goals to Luke French; 17:50, and Cale O'Keefe; 19:49). An injury 20 minutes into the quarter to Launceston's
Gary Shipton shadowed the quarter, and at quarter time North had a narrow lead.
At quarter time, Rod Keogh got stuck right into his Bomber players, and told them that long bombs to Cotton was the best
way to boost their score. It worked. Although Launceston's Ryan Baker kicked a goal with the clock at 1:45, Justin Cotton
kicked the next goal (a very long one), which was one of three goals in 15 minutes to the Bombers (Cotton: 3:58, Fox: 8:09,
Hamilton: 16:00). It then took a 50m penalty to the Blues' Clayton Sturzaker for them to get another one, with the
captain/coach kicking truly with the clock at 25:55. Just three minutes later, a 50m penalty to North's Wade Nation which
resulted in a goal to Cotton gave the Bombers the momentum at half-time.
With the clock at just 1:07 in the third quarter, North's Gavin Hamilton kicked the first of his three goals of the
quarter. This was followed by a goal from team-mate Adam Jago (2:40) and Launceston's Bradley Dutton (9:30). The last thing
the Blues wanted with all the momentum was easy chances missed, and Jon Sowden missed an absolute sitter in front of goals
at the 14 minute mark. The Bomber's Jason French booted one six minutes later, before Gavin Hamilton hit the post. This was
the fourth time a Bomber had hit the post in the quarter. Bomber captain Kim Curtis made up for the miss a minute later
(23:38), and then Gavin Hamilton kicked two goals exactly two minutes apart (28:07, 30:07). The last goal in the quarter
came from Blue Cale O'Keefe with the clock at 31:42.
At three-quarter time, Rod Keogh was happy with his boys' efforts, but made it clear that their intensity and hardness
at the ball had to improve. He also pointed out that kicking into packs was not as wise as kicking to leads in the pocket.
Clayton Sturzaker told the Blues to simply man up and make options instead of waiting around for the easy kick. It took
until the tenth minute mark for a goal to be kicked in the final term, with North's Adam Street breaking the drought. One
of the highlights of the day came at the 15 minute mark, when North's Gary Knight taking a great specky in front of the
main stand at York Park. Geoff Mohr (19:00) booted Launceston's first of the quarter, which was replied to quickly by Adam
Jago of the Bombers (20:55). Not long afterwoods, Launceston's Gene Savage took a great high mark in front of the Bombers
Clubrooms (22:15). Darren Simmonds of the Blues tried to bring the margin back a little, kicking a goal with the clock at
27:10, but Gavin Hamilton fittingly kicked the last major of the match, kicking his fifth goal at 28:46.
In what was quite a scrappy match at times, but other times very high-skilled, the Bombers deservingly went home happy,
winning by 50 points, 15.17.107 to 8.9.57. Well done North.
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