Tassie Tigers Hit Ten Past Cobras in Hobart Rout
The Tassie Tigers needed a response after last week’s 5-1 loss to HC Melbourne. They got ten goals’ worth of one.
Tasmania thumped the Melbourne Cobras 10-1 in Hobart on Saturday, in the biggest statement of their Hockey One season so far. Jack Welch opened the scoring from a penalty corner after four minutes, Oscar Pritchard added another from a corner at 15, and by the time the Tigers went in at the break they were already out of sight.
It didn’t stop there. Welch struck again in the 47th minute and converted the one-on-one that followed his field goal. Lachlan Rogers did the same trick in the 30th minute, a field goal and its converted challenge, then added another in the 45th. Oliver Sproule, Ehren Hazell from a penalty stroke and Samuel McCulloch, who converted the one-on-one after Hazell’s stroke, all got on the scoresheet too. The Cobras’ only reply came from Eden Davis in the 59th minute, long after the game was gone.
Ten goals, six different scorers, and a win that keeps the Tigers right in the finals race. They’re now on 12 points from six games, one point clear of the NSW Pride, with HC Melbourne already qualified at the top on a perfect 18.
From Bendigo high to Hobart low
The swing for the Cobras is brutal. A week ago they were celebrating their first win of the season, a 10-3 thrashing of Adelaide Fire in Bendigo with five goals for Peter Scott and four for Jake Whetton. Seven days later they’ve conceded ten themselves, and their finals hopes are over.
For the Tigers, it’s the perfect way to bounce back. They’d lost the Grand Final rematch 5-1 in Melbourne last Friday, and with two rounds left every result carries weight in a seven-game season. This one also settles the goal difference nicely. Their next game is a huge one: away to the NSW Pride in Newcastle on Thursday, the side they’re now one point clear of. Win that, and second place is theirs to lose.
The women’s game followed in Hobart, with the Cobras chasing the win that would book a finals spot in their first season, and the Tigers needing a win of their own to keep their hopes alive. That result will follow in our next update.
Round 6 continues in Perth tonight, where the Thundersticks host Adelaide Fire, men at 12:30pm PKT and women at 2:15pm PKT. The round finishes in Brisbane on Sunday, where the Blaze host Canberra Chill. The finals are 5-6 December on the Gold Coast.
