Reality hits Tigers ahead of Congupna clash

By Owen Sinclair

May 20, 2025

Wrapped up, Ryan Mele falls victim to the Tongala pressure. Photo: Mary Hyde.

The Cobram Tigers have retreated to the den, licking their wounds after suffering a 15-point upset loss to Tongala over the weekend.

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With the wind in their sails after an unbeaten first five rounds of the season, Cobram was out to cement its place at the top two of the ladder standings when it hosted Tongala at Scott Reserve.

But a dominant first half from the visitors put paid to the hosts’ hopes after the second-quarter siren saw Tongala with a lead of 22 points.

Even with efforts in front of goal from recently returned Fergus Pinnuck and Tallangatta FL import Jake Hodgkin, alongside Tyron Baden (two goals each), the Tigers couldn’t make a convincing reply as Tongala cleaned up from handovers and punished Cobram accordingly.

The final siren saw Cobram down 15 points, 9.4 (58) to Tongala 11.7 (73).

Cobram coach Mark Meyland said he thought his side played the game out to the end.

“There’s no doubt about that. Fitness isn’t an issue. It’s probably just ball-in-hand decision-making, and positioning around the field that is letting us down at the moment,” he said.

“I think we’ve got to get back to our fundamentals. We’ll have a review [at training]... and we’ll go over a few areas that stand out where we’re lacking at the moment. I think there are quite a few guys that didn’t play their best footy, and that was a big part of the result in the end.

“I think we were very fumbly, below our knees especially, we weren’t clean and we over-used the footy a lot in tight spaces.

“At half-time, we pulled a few guys out to pick up their act, and to give us a bit of a lift. And, you know, we probably didn’t quite get the response that we wanted.”

Sebastian Conheady puts on a burst of trademark speed to shake the Tongala press in the reserves. Photo: Mary Hyde.

With a date booked with reigning premiers Congupna at Congupna this weekend, Meyland was confident Saturday would be a good wake-up call.

“I would like to think we’ll have a lot to prove this weekend when we go to play them,” he said.

Meyland expected the outfit to undergo some changes ahead of the Congupna clash.

He added key forward Ben Ryan is likely to be back from injury and available for selection this weekend.

“We definitely miss Sam’s [Beasley] experience and his direction behind the ball. There’s no doubt about that. It’s pretty hard to replace because he’s done it for quite a while now. And then Ben Ryan as that forward option was a big loss for us too, as he provides such a good target,” Meyland said.

“There’s probably a few players who are on notice, and there are guys who are performing quite well in the reserves. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see a bit of re-shuffling happening, and keeping guys hovering on their toes,” Meyland said.

Meanwhile, fortune favoured Cobram’s reserves outfit, which celebrated key defender Lachlan Hyde’s 200th club match in style, taking its Tongala counterparts to task by stamping home its sixth-straight win of the season, 19.13 (127) to Tongala’s 1.0 (6).