HEADING into Queanbeyan’s season opener against Ainslie last weekend, Tigers coach Kade Klemke knew he had the talent at his disposal to replicate last season’s premiership winning run.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
For the Queanbeyan Age's photo gallery of Sunday's match, see above.
The only question remaining was whether his troops would show the same heart, the same hunger, on the back of such success.
Well, the club’s 2013 NEAFL campaign may only be one round old but already any doubts that existed in Klemke’s mind on that front must have been largely alleviated.
Queanbeyan’s come-from-behind victory against the Tricolours at Dairy Farmers Park last Sunday was far more the product of grit and determination than skill and style.
Trailing by 20 points at three-quarter time and having produced a performance that could have been described as scrappy at best, the Tigers appeared set for a first-up loss to kick off their premiership defence.
But despite the hot conditions, Queanbeyan refused to wilt. The home side kicked four goals to one in the final term to pull out an unlikely 12.9 (81) to 11.12 (78) victory.
The win was capped by an after the siren special from full-forward James Kavanagh that saw the Tigers scrape over the line.
“We speak a lot at this club about our values, about that resilience that we have in our team and it’s nice when you speak about those things, to see the boys stand for them on the field,” Kavanagh said.
“Even at the three-quarter break we thought we could win it. Based on the team we’ve got and what we achieved last year, there’s a fair bit of belief there.
“The harder you work on and off the track as well, the more often these things tend to come off. It’s never just a fluke.”
Earlier, the Tigers had shown little of the flair that lifted them to the Eastern Conference title last season.
Queanbeyan proved unable to control possession through the midfield and struggled to move the ball into the forward line with any precision before finding their feet in the final term.
While such concerns are perhaps par for the course at this stage of the season, they will need to be addressed if the Tigers are to challenge Northern Conference rivals Labrador this weekend.
Queanbeyan will likely be without ruck Neil Irwin for the contest after he was reported for high contact against Ainslie.
The Tigers could also be without Todd Dickinson for the clash with the midfielder carrying a foot injury.
NEAFL, round 2
Who: Queanbeyan Tigers v Labrador
Where: Crooke Murphy Oval
When: Saturday, 1pm
