Barnawartha secures crucial win over severely depleted Tallangatta

The Hoppers were coming off their best win of the season after claiming the scalp of Beechworth the previous week.

They were in desperate need of another big scalp to remain in finals contention but were robbed of three of their top half-a-dozen players due to COVID.

Top-liners Scott Spencer, Kaine Parsons, and Joel O'Connell all missed the crucial clash.

The Tigers capitalised early to boot seven goals to three in the opening term on their way to a 14.7 (91) to 8.12 (60) win.

Jarrod Williams, Brodie Scammell, Jarrod Woodall and Adam Elias did most of the damage for the Tigers.

To the Hoppers' credit they matched the home side after quarter-time with Daniel O'Connell, Jack Killalea and Khyle Goodman four-quarter performers.

The Tigers suffered an early blow after former coach Mitch Exton was stretchered from the ground in the opening term with what appeared to be a hamstring injury.

He was joined on the sidelines by dashing wingman Josh Star shortly afterwards with the injured pair taking no further part in the match.

Tiger coach Kade Butters said it was an important win after the club was rocked by the season-ending injury to seven-time best and fairest winner Josh Spence last weekend.

Spence broke his femur in another huge blow to the Tigers' flag aspirations after losing Cam McNeill (Achilles) for the season in the opening round.

"It was important that we didn't drop our heads today and got the win," Butters said.

"Externally I think most people have written us off as flag contenders after losing both Josh and Cam.

"But internally we feel we are far from a spent force and still consider ourselves a flag threat and have a goal that we want to achieve.

"The boys showed that today, they have got the hunger and desire to keep digging deep."

Butters conceded the Hoppers' outs were always going to be hard to cover for the visitors.

"No doubt they were missing some big names," he said.

"But with Mitch and Josh going down in the first 15-minutes, it robbed us of our rotations.

"So we were lucky to get that flying start because there wasn't much in it after quarter-time.

"We were also missing Ben Kunkel, Brad Star and Ben McPherson.

"Full credit to Tallangatta, they have got some good young kids who could have easily dropped their heads.

"But they just kept fighting and trying to find a way and probably had more inside 50s than us.

"Fortunately we were able to kick fairly straight today."

The Tigers now sit third at the half-way point of the season after Beechworth stumbled against Yackandandah.

The Hoppers are eighth with a 4-5 record but still remain only one win and percentage behind fifth-placed Dederang-Mt Beauty.

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Teenager Jack Shanahan made his senior debut for the Tigers as a 15-year-old.

"Jack is a great young kid and has a lot of ability," Butters said.

"I thought he was fantastic for us and did his job on a wing."

The Tigers play Wodonga Saints and Wahgunyah over the next fortnight to complete the opening round.

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