AFTER a tight battle early Woorinen was able pull away to record a comfortable 69-point victory over the Cohuna Kangas at Woorinen on Saturday.
At times the Tigers were their own worst enemies with poor execution on goal but in some cases the pressure of the Kangas contributed to the inaccuracy.
Doug Palmer has emerged as a quality forward this year and his performance reinforced that with a dominant showing of strong leading, overhead marking and most important of all very accurate kicking on goal.
His eight goal haul was reward for effort for the youngster who now sits second on the league goal kickers with a season tally of 31.
An entertaining and open first quarter saw the lead change six times with both sides enjoying swift ball movement from end to end.
The Kangas due to their lack of height opted to short pass their way out of defence until they could find the loose player.
The Tigers defence were pressing forward to block the long kick but the Kangas skill and courage was up to the challenge to pinpoint targets in heavy traffic.
Kanga Dylan Friedberger played forward and kicked two opportunistic goals for the term with singles from Josh Novoselek and Ben Archard.
Debutant ruckman Dave Climie gave the Kangas some much needed grunt at the stoppages with his second effort a much needed assistance for his young team mates.
Palmer kicked two for the quarter but inaccuracy on goal was costly for the Tigers with forward Zac Keane the main offender.
The Tigers took a 13-point lead into the first change with Victor Siciliano, Matt Iannucci and Josh Domaille best for the home side whereas the Kangas were best served through Jake Thrum, Corey Miller and Climie.
The second term continued where the first left off, with quick ball movement creating goals for the Tigers through Palmer and Johnson only to be counted out by Kanga livewire Damien Boyers’ double to bring the margin back to an even two goals.
The Kangas continued to take risks with short passing but an intercept through Keane finally saw the big forward register his first.
The remainder of the quarter saw both defences tighten up and scoring slow as an arm wrestle ensured the margin wasn’t going to be great at the main change.
The 26-point halftime margin was not insurmountable for the visitors and a first minute goal through Sam O’Shea saw the margin back at 20 points and the Kangas hopes rise.
As quick as the Kangas hopes rose though, the stronger Tiger outfit kicked into gear with doubles to Keane and Palmer to just about snuff out the Kangas chances.
Another late goal to the Tigers had broken the back of the Kangas challenge as the lead had got out to 47 points at the last change to put the match to bed.
Jackson Clark and Nathan Bird were solid contributors for the Kangas and along with a continued possession gathering game from Thrum, it was once again a case of experience and maturity that was able to bring the improving Kangas undone.
The final term saw the Tigers push the margin out to 69 points with Jye Barry gathering double figure possessions for the term and Palmer bringing up his eighth for the game.
The young Kangas didn’t throw in the towel as the Tigers were still made to work for everything.
Iannucci, Siciliano, Palmer, Doug Beams and Domaille were good four quarter performers for the Tigers whereas the visitors were served best through Thrum, Clark, Friedberger, Miller and Climie.
The Tigers host United next week with the loser possibly not able to make the finals.
The Kangas have one of the longest road trips in country football at Balranald who achieved the upset of the season at the hands of the Mallee Eagles and the result could see the loser favourite to take out the wooden spoon.
