Tigers refuse to say die in massive comeback win against Pigeons

After being humiliated early, the Tigers gradually fought back to win 16.13 (109) to 13.9 (87) in front of a 2000-strong crowd.

The Pigeons booted nine of the first 10 goals to open up a game-high 46-point advantage midway through the second term, before four unanswered goals inside half-time breathed life back into the Tigers’ camp.

Experienced campaigners Charles Gaylard (five), Joel Mackie (four), Brayden O’Hara (four) and co-coach Shaun Daly (two) led the way up front in the remarkable comeback.

Daly said it was a character-building performance from his side.

“We debuted five today, which is really exciting, but it was always going to take a bit of time to gel with such a new team,” Daly said.

“I thought the boys never gave up.

“Credit to Yarra, they really got on top of us and probably shocked us a little bit.

“But we knew if we could just hang in there, we’re a really fit side and we could peg them back slowly.

“The last 10 minutes of the second quarter kept us in the game, if that didn’t happen, we go into half-time 40-odd points down and the game is almost gone.

“The game is always won and lost in the midfield and they got on top in the first quarter-and-a-half, but we slowly worked our way back into the game in the midfield, which I think is where we got back on top.”