The Rio Tinto Indigenous Lands Cup
APY v MT Lands
On a cold, wet and windy evening at AAMI Stadium, reigning champions Maralinga Tjarutja (MT) were set to do battle with the might of the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara (APY) Lands.
Early signs were not good for Maralinga with the men from the APY Lands having shot after shot on goal in the first ten minutes. But after only managing to kick one of their first six shots on goal, they left the game open for an early fight back from Maralinga.
MT managed to steady and made some forward fifty entries towards the end of the first term resulting in two goals and keeping the quarter time margin to a manageable 15 points.
QTR Time
APY 4-4-28
MT 2-1-13
In the second term APY continued to use the ball much better than their opponents. They were able to find targets by hand and by foot, although when it came to finishing off, the squandered opportunity after opportunity. They kicked four behinds and three out on the full before Maralinga goaled against the flow of play.
APY managed to kick their first goal of the quarter at the 14 minute mark to extend their lead to a three goal margin.
At the 15 minute mark, Maralinga had an opportunity to pull themselves right back into the match with a shot on goal from the top of the goal square. The ball rocketed of the players boot straight into the left hand goal post for a minor score.
APY goaled late in the quarter to further their lead and stamp their authority back on the game. They had registered two goals seven behind for the term, with an additional five shots out of bounds on the full.
Half Time
APY 6-11-47
MT 3-2-20
The ball was transferred from end to end in the early stages of the third term with neither team able to kick a goal until an APY breakthrough after eight minutes of play. Another goal two minutes later basically secured an APY victory with the lead beyond 40 points.
Maralinga did a lot of attacking in the last five minutes of the third quarter but were only able to register one goal and three behinds.
Three QTR Time
APY 8-16-64
MT 4-5-29
In the final quarter both teams kept running in slippery conditions as the rain bucketed down but again it was APY who did it better. They piled on five goals to one in the final term to push the margin out to 63 points.
Had it not been for extremely inaccurate kicking the margin could well have reach triple figures.
Best for the APY Lands were Kieran Roberts, Amos Frank and Nelson Peters.
Goals were produced by Glendon Brown 3, Atu Campbell, Kieran Roberts, Amos Frank and David Morris 2, Duncan Armstrong and Nelson Peters 1.
Final Score
APY 13-21-99
MT 5-6-36
