Official Match Report
At quarter time things were going to script with Boulder holding down an 18 point lead, Railways playing ineffective football and Darren Bradshaw already looming large in the contest. From quarter time onwards it was like a switch was flicked for Railways and they then started to take control of the game. James Warren moved to Bradshaw and whilst this in the end didn’t stop the gun full forward from kicking goals, his chances may have been many more without Warren standing beside him. The Boulder midfield of Ben Andrews, Ryan McNally and Julian Jacobs became that little less effective with gave the Panthers a chance by Mitch Gillam, Josh Rymer and Ryan Booy, and this brought further Panthers into the contest to feed the ball to Kody Kelman, who turned the clock back in a superb goal kicking exhibition finishing with nine including the last quarter sealer. Kelman’s conversion was crucial in a match that only provided a combined five goalscorers for a game total of 23, and had that Kelman swagger back and was also very good on the verbal jab as well. The Panthers lost onballer Aaron Rymer from the early period of the second quarter to further enhance the quality of this upset result. It wasn’t a great night result wise, for 50 gamer and 2004 Mitchell Medallist Clinton Rudd, but his brother Tyson was most effective from half back. Certainly not the end of the world here for Boulder and this first loss may have been a timely reminder of how long and hard a season can be, but the Tigers will certainly be around at the pointy end of the season.