From Sunday Examiner
Reported by Phil Edwards
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TOO strong, too fast, too good.
That sums up the VFL's performance in smashing the Tasmanian State League side by 106 points in their representative clash at Bellerive Oval yesterday.
Tasmania was completely outclassed by a slick VFL outfit that handed the home side an embarrassing 20.17 (137) to 3.11 (29) thrashing in front of a disappointing crowd.
AFL Tasmania's youth selection process had its critics pre-game with many predicting a humiliating defeat and that criticism proved justified in the one-sided contest.
Tasmania's young side could not be faulted for its effort and endeavour but skill errors and turnovers under pressure proved costly.
It failed to get reward for effort _ struggling to find effective marking targets inside 50 in the absence of an established full-forward, to put any scoreboard pressure on the Victorians.
At the other end the Vics had plenty of avenues to goal with some classy forwards waiting to feed on the excellent ball delivery that came their way.
The VFL players showed why their competition is rated as the best in the country outside the AFL.
They dominated the contests after quarter time with their run and spread and showed the Tasmanians the way to move the ball forward with precision.
The VFL had multiple goalkickers with Khan Haretuku the best finishing with four, Dean Galea, Chris Cain and Sam Dwyer all kicking three.
Tasmania could only manage one goal in each of the first three quarters with captain Andrew Lee its only multiple goalkicker with two.
Tasmania's last goal came at the four-minute mark of the third quarter and from then on it was all one way traffic as the Vics banged on the last 13 unanswered goals of the game.
The VFL dominated the game stats winning possessions 313 to 200, marks 104 to 41, and smashing Tasmania in inside 50s, 63-26, and centre breaks 19-7.
Tasmania coach Adam Sanders praised his players' effort and said his side won a couple of key indicators such as the contested footy and tackle rate _ but the scoreboard got away from them in the end.
``In the end against a quality opposition we weren't quite clean enough with the ball,'' he said.
``When they got the chance to get it out wide they hurt us.
``It's just that little bit different brand of footy they played with some guys coming up against AFL players.
``They have to play that run and spread style and hopefully our boys take that away and start playing like that at our local level.''
Sanders rejected the notion that other players left out of the Tassie squad could have done any better saying people had to be realistic about the State League not having the depth in quality of the VFL.
``We have to be positive but realistic of where we're at and hopefully it will be the starting point for us (State League) to get better.''
