Tigers fire early in win against Kalgoorlie
After Kalgoorlie posted the opening goal, the Tigers piled on the next five unanswered — among an efficient 6.3 to quarter-time.
Kalgoorlie stuck to their guns with three first-quarter goals and shaded the Tigers in the second term, two goals to one, to make the deficit a manageable 15 points at half-time.
Amid the defensive slog that played out after quarter-time, the Roos' work rate and effort remained high.
But they lacked the polish and connection of Boulder going forward, with the Tigers' duo of Dustin Walters and Guy Laughlin each booting three goals.
And defensively, Boulder had their measure, with the Roos' second half yielding just 1.2.
Boulder coach Kye Bradley said it had been a solid all-round performance in the absence of key defenders.
'We knew it was a game we'd really have to push through,' Bradley said.
'But once we found our composure and moved the footy better, it was what we wanted.
'It was a grind all day and we had some big names out of our backline, too — like Tate Ralph and Bronson Bishop, and then to have Alec Johnson play his best game of the season at centre-half-back and kicking goals was fantastic.'
The hauls of Walters and Laughlin for the Tigers were complemented by 2023 premiership player Connor Maris' two goals in his return to the seniors.
Boulder also have Mitchell medallist Scott Worthington waiting patiently in the wings after he was a late withdrawal with a calf strain.
With the Tigers drawing a round 15 bye this Saturday, Worthington is expected to make his anticipated return on August 2 against Mines Rovers.
Saturday's result allowed Boulder to reclaim first place on percentage over the Diorites.
However, Mines Rovers have a game in hand — ahead of their clash this weekend against Railways.
Kalgoorlie coach Rick Butterfield conceded that a hard-working first half sapped their energy reserves.
'We just couldn't work it out of our back half in the second half, when I felt we just ran out of legs,' he said.
'We probably lacked a couple of big targets up forward and basically didn't have our spine, with Ricky Whitehead, (Luke) Rockley and Patto (Ryan Paterson) all out — as well as (Corey) Yeo, our centreman, and (Rhys) Palmer as our centre-half-back.
'When you don't have that structure, it makes it quite difficult, but give credit to Boulder because they really pressured our ball carriers so our kicks weren't effective.'
The Roos' brand was physical, but Butterfield said there was nothing outside the spirit of the game.
'We give players a role to put a tag on and I don't think they went outside the rules,' he said.
'They did the jobs they were asked to do, to nullify players — and they (Boulder) had a hard tag on Bailey Norris.
'We were a bit frustrated by some of the holding off the ball.'
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