TAMWORTH Thunderbolts finished their Australian Under 14 Club Championships with a loss but it didn’t take away from a courageous effort from the Neil Wood-coached side.
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Struck down with three major injuries to key players before the tournament they were only able to start the tournament with eight players and then finish with seven when it took on the North Adelaide Rockets in a bronze medal playoff in the Phil Smyth Shield on Saturday morning.
They lost that game 77-55 after the side had lost its Friday night semi final to Willeton Tigers 62-46.
The Tigers scoreline was deceiving, Wood said.
“Don’t let the score fool you,” he said.
“The boys were great, competed for three quarters of the game. Fatigue got us in the final quarter. We had seven fit players and they had 12 on the bench. It was an amazing result, the boys played their hearts out.
“The boys have come a long way in this week.”
The courage and effort were incredible, said team manager Shane Sheppard.
“The boys were awesome all week,” he said.
“We finished 16th out of 24.”
Neil Wood said the final result was disappointing but couldn’t have been more impressed by his young side.
“It was unbelievable really,” he said.
“We fought it out with what we had left, it was a case of attrition.
“We lost Nathan Clark with a back injury early in the third quarter and then Ben Pearce fouled out in the fourth. We finished the game with five players. But it was typical of our season. We had so much bad luck. Amazing really to finish 16th overall. I’m elated about that and the boys can hold their heads high and be proud of that they have done.
“I do maintain too that if we had our full squad of 10 all fit that we could have won the gold medal in the Phil Smyth Shield.”
WILLETON TIGERS 62 (R Williams 28, Y Oyeniyi 13, B Nielsen 8, J Ibukunolowa 4, T Kohr 4, M Barham 3, A Rahimi 2) THUNDERBOLTS 46
(Nathan Clark 17, Ben Pearce 15, Connor Watt 7, Lachlan Damir 3, Tom Sheppard 2, Will Meyers 2).
NORTH ADELAIDE ROCKETS 77 (J Zussino 21, F Ipassou 18, N Pascale 17, J Hendry 10, C Edwards 4, D McDonald 3, R Real 4)
THUNDERBOLTS 55 (Nathan Clark 20, Connor Watt 15, Lachlan Damir 7, Ben Pearce 6, Will Meyers 5, Rowan Meyers 2).
