Redland fly to Alice Springs knowing they have never been beaten by the NT Thunder.
Friday 2 July 2010
The desperate Redland Bombers fly to Alice Springs tomorrow intent on keeping their unbeaten record against the Northern Territory Thunder intact.
Redland have won all three clashes between the sides since the Thunder joined the QAFL at the start of 2009 and simply must extend that run to four.
The Bombers were brave but beaten by Labrador at Victoria Point last weekend in a game where they played plenty of good football but their skills let them down at key times.
They trailed by 44 points at three-quarter-time but stormed back to within 16 points with plenty of time remaining, before Labrador got a steadying goal to ice the game.
“One thing I can’t question is the boys’ fighting spirit…that’s one area we don’t have to work on,” said coach Matty Francis.
Despite being competitive in every game this season, the loss set the Bombers a game and percentage adrift of the top five.
“We’re not worried about where we are on the ladder,” Francis said. “Every single game each week we’re a chance of winning and that’s all we’re focusing on.
“There’s a message still in our results – if we can sneak into the finals, anyone who takes us easy is no guarantee of beating us.
“It (making the finals) is getting a bigger ask, but we won’t give up until it’s out of the realm.”
The Thunder pose a huge threat on Saturday, having surged into fourth place on the back of some outstanding performances by ruck-rover Cameron Ilett, who collected 32 possessions and booted seven goals in the win over Aspley last week.
“They haven’t beaten us yet and we’re aiming to keep it that way,” Francis said.
Labrador coach Jarrod Field certainly isn’t writing off the Bombers.
“To their credit, they didn’t lie down against us,” he said. “I said to our boys before the game ‘they might be four and six but they’ve got a percentage of 97.8 and they never get blown out of the water.
“They proved that again. They nearly got back into it. I’ve got a lot of respect for them – they have some really talented players.”
