ROCHERLEA 8.6 (54)

SOUTH Launceston kicked seven goals in the third quarter to overcome a first-half dogfight against Rocherlea and go on to win their NTFA division 1 clash at Rocherlea on Saturday by 47 points.

The suburban Tigers came to play and showed plenty of determination in the first half of the contest.

Only five points separated the two teams at half-time but the Bulldogs changed some things up at the main break and kicked away with the breeze in the third term and went on to win 14.17 (101) to 8.6(54).

Darren Crawford kicked six goals for the game, five of which came in the first quarter, and Brad Etchell two for the Bulldogs, while Josh Holton with four was Rocherlea’s best goalkicker.

‘‘It was really tough today and in the first quarter they really came out fired up as we knew they would after their big loss to Bridgenorth last week,’’ South coach Aaron Viney said.

‘‘I think they kicked the first three goals of the game against the breeze and got us at the contested footy and on the outside and made us look second rate in the first half.

‘‘Crawford kicked five in the first quarter to get us back in the game but we didn’t make the most of the wind in the first quarter.

‘‘They got us in a bit of a dogfight in the first half and played the type of footy they wanted to play in sloppy conditions in the mud.

‘‘In the second half we made a few changes and put a few guys deeper in the goal square and our half-forward line opened and we started kicking longer to the contest and that seemed to work for us.

‘‘Jarrod Price made a couple of really good tackles and converted into goals for us and that provided a bit of a spark that got us going in the third quarter and kicked 7.5 for the term but put a bit of a gap on them.’’

Viney praised  Crawford’s efforts in the first quarter when they needed them.

Joel Mountney played well on a wing, Matty Viney in the ruck and Jordan Tepper and Leigh Harding in the midfield were other good players, along with Nathan Parkin in the backline.

‘‘Without blokes being dominant today we had a few contributors who stepped up when we needed them,’’ Viney said.

‘‘We don’t really have any injuries that will be a worry for Bridgenorth next week and hopefully we should get a few players back to make us a little bit stronger, which is going to be important against Bridgenorth, who are probably the form team of the competition at the moment.’’