When old, toothless Tigers are reminiscing on the great moments in Thailand Tigers history they have many to choose from. The win against Hong Kong in the 2014 Asian Champs. The ANZAC Day win over Singapore in 2017. Winning the Asian Championship in 2021. They must now add to that list the day in May when a group of Thailand Tigers flew to Central Cambodia and against the odds, played two full games of footy in a Southeast Asian heatwave and refused to be beaten. There are so many stories to tell. All are stories of courage, commitment and belief.
It was commitment that saw the Tigers field what was their strongest touring team in a decade. They came from everywhere. Two Point flew from Darwin to test his recently broken shoulder. New father Hasto, his newborn baby only weeks old, obtained the leave pass of the century to play and my God, how he played. Not since the days of Patrick Fitzgerald has a player had such an impact on a Tigers team. Everyone picked up bumps and bruises but I tell you what, there will have been some very sore Swan and Eagle midfielders on Sunday morning, that’s for sure. Spokey came from Phuket to make his first Tigers tour. Rutty from Chiang Mai was a late addition; so was Nate. Even G-Mac, written off as retired in the last tour report, sneaked his jumper into his bag. It was a squad that grew in both size and belief in the final few weeks but just to make things interesting, on Wednesday night during the last training session before the tournament J-Mac, pushing off for a run felt his calf muscle go. Training continued, but the sight of the skipper injured on the sideline, head in hands, cast a shadow over the squad. Could they do it without him?
The tournament was played at the Siem Reap Academy Training Ground. Much like the new airport, the ground was brand new and in the middle of nowhere. Only the pitch itself was complete. The surface was immaculate, the grass so lush it was hard to take a bounce, but all around was a construction site. A grader rattled along beside the ground throughout the day, the light poles were bare and the players all pissed in the drainage ditch rather than trekking to the toilet block several hundred metres away. It was surreal.
The Tigers played the first match against tournament favourites, the Vietnam Swans.To beat them the Tigers had to start well and this had been their Achilles heel in recent years. But they did have J-Mac who was determined to play a role. He wore a compression bandage on his calf and would sit in the goal square for both games. What a role he would end up playing, but that was still to come.
The tournament started terribly for Mark “Big Boy” Saunders who suffered a knee injury in the first few minutes of game one which ended his tournament and continued his run of bad luck in international fixtures. But that aside, the Tigers got the start they wanted, surging forward from the first bounce. Welby kicked three in an outstanding opening quarter. Pez kicked the other.
The Tigers were up, belief surged through them as they went to the tent up four goals to one in the first quarter. Their run continued after the turn. Spokey kicked two goals in his first international in an outstanding game up front. All around the park the Tigers were standing up. Nam and Two Point were solid as a rock down back, Jayden continued his ANZAC form in the ruck and Kai and Mani put pressure on all around the field. The Tigers were unstoppable. When the ball rolled into the pocket Sammo scooped it up, looped a kick into the square and J-Mac, torn hamstring forgotten, juggled and held it for what he called the mark of the day. He kicked the goal to keep the Tigers run going. A few minutes later Hasto kicked a goal that was even more special. Running onto Jayden’s tap forward, Hasto scooped up the ball inside the centre square and threw it on his boot, sending it straight and true, fifty metres for a goal.
The half time whistle blew and the Tigers sensed something special was happening. They had kicked eight goals without a behind.The Swans were stunned. The score was forty eight to twenty.
The Tigers joked about it later, saying that they let the Swans back into the match because coach Gunny told them they’d won it at half time. It’s not true of course, but Gunny’s half-time speech is certainly what the younger generation call an epic fail. The irony was that Gunny had prepared meticulously for this campaign. He had Jules taking notes throughout the match and was managing the bench with great care. Perhaps the old soldier had played so many tournaments in the traditional format that muscle memory just kicked in and he therefore forgot that Cambodia had scheduled a slug-fest. What transpired was that Gunny thought the game was over and was giving his match wrap up instead of a motivational half-time speech. It took the players a while to catch on. Why was he talking in the past tense? Where were all the instructions for the second half? Finally it dawned on them. Gunny mate, we’ve still got a half of footy to go!
So although the Tigers came out of the tent unenlightened by their coach they were still up for the fight. Hasto got the squad bunched up tight and they jogged the centre square as one unit. The message was clear. Win the quarter and take this opportunity. In contrast the Swans looked a rabble. But as was mentioned earlier, Vietnam had some great players in their squad and in the second half they began to play some footy.
Vietnam kicked the first two goals in the premiership quarter and halted the Tigers momentum. The only points for Thailand came when Joey Kheng made a big tackle in the backline that gave J-Mac a goal. Vietnam won the quarter but Thailand still had a twenty one point lead. It was not quite enough. Vietnam surged back after the final turn.
Needing only four goals to win it was the Swans who had the belief. A few calls went against the Tigers and they lost their composure. More goals came for the Swans and the momentum had shifted. A towering kick went into Vietnam’s goal square and Coyote bravely went up between two players, getting both hands on the ball. But he juggled it. The ball went to ground and was soccered through for a goal. Just one goal down, Vietnam were surging, their bench was up, the whole crowd were in it and the brave Tigers just could not stop them. The final goal came, the hooter sounded and the Tigers looked around in disbelief. It felt like a loss to give up that lead but back in the tent their heads went back up. The Tigers had gone toe to toe with one of the best teams in Asia and held their own. Vietnam had gotten lucky, and they knew it. The match had ended in a draw.
Up next was the women’s match which saw three Tigers; Kay, Juliana and Tud pull on Vietnam jumpers and represent our club with distinction. Kay played down back and was immense, laying on big tackles and throwing herself into contest after contest. Juliana was at half-forward and earned three goal assists and a neck injury when a huge Cambodian player came crashing down on top of her. Tud played up front as well as down back, showing her versatility and also kicking a point. Vietnam won comfortably.
A friendly match followed, the Nagas versus the Garudas, and then the Tigers were up, battered, bruised and still exhausted from the first match. Their task was to beat a Cambodian side, their huge squad still fresh, and do it across an hour of footy. Gone are the days of Cambodia being the easy beats of Asian football. They beat the Tigers in the semi-final of the ICC last year and came out strong against them at the recent ANZAC Cup. Their local players are fit, fast and have grown increasingly skillful, and their team is built around the silky skills of Jordan, Kokke and Valour. But the draw against Vietnam showed that the Tigers could compete with the best. The Tigers needed to start well. Instead they started terribly.
It was as if a sniper was taking shots at the Tigers back line. First Nate went down when former Tiger, Eric “Easy E” changed direction and Nate’s ankle went from under him. Easy kicked a goal from that and no sooner had Nate dragged himself over the boundary line when his backline replacement, Joey Kheng, was struck down with a pulled gluteus muscle. Mani, too, copped a smack in the face and left the field with a cut lip. The Tigers were frazzled. The surging runs of the Cambodians and the frantic positional changes really impacted their composure. But they were still in the contest. Both Mani and Welby kicked goals, Mani’s was a fine effort on the run, and Cambodia let Thailand off the hook, kicking two goals five, squandering their chance to put the Tigers to the sword.
The second quarter played out much the same as the first. More settled now, with Sammo moving into fullback, the Tigers still struggled to cope with Cambodia’s run. Cambodia kicked two goals five again in the second quarter and could have put the game out of reach. Hasto kept the Tigers in it with a fine long range effort. The ruck tap went over the top, Hasto ran onto it, stepped to his left and with that cannon of a boot banged it fifty metres into the square. Big Stone Cold Steve Austin -who played his best ever tournament- did the right thing and shepherded it through for a goal. Nate, back on the field with a sore ankle almost kicked another, his effort fading at the last moment to register just a point. At half time Cambodia were up by a goal and a half.
The third quarter was close. Cambodia were finally starting to tire and pick up injuries of their own. Star player Jordy came off second best in a collision with J-Mac and spent some time on the bench. Sammo, who had a huge game at fullback, made a goal saving tackle in the square when Valour tried to walk it into goal. Coyote took a great grab, running backwards, eyes only for the ball to diffuse a promising Cambodian attack. Another goal from J-Mac was matched by a flukey effort from Easy, his lob into the square taking a lucky bounce to the left and rolling through for a goal. The Tigers had halted Cambodia’s momentum but were out on their feet. The injury list was huge. J-Mac looked to have a broken finger from a knock he took in the first five minutes but was battling on regardless. So too were Kale, Khengy and Nate. It was all hands on deck.
Captain J-Mac had asked the question of the Tigers before the match. Could they take this opportunity? Could the Thailand Tigers, so strong at home, come together on tour and be the type of side that refuses to be beaten, commits fully and fights to the end? It had all gone against them so far but the Tigers were still in it. They were down by eight points with fifteen minutes to go. Could they get the win that would galvanise this team?
What transpired was a final quarter of footy that was so exciting, so eventful and so full of passion that it will go down in Tigers history as one of the most thrilling and emotional comebacks this great club has ever had.
But it started so badly for the Tigers. In the first five minutes star player Mani had to be carried from the field with a combination of heat stroke and cramp. His legs simply stopped working; running with Jordy had taken its toll. Cambodia scored first, kicking a goal and then three behinds to stretch their lead to seventeen points. But the Tigers were not finished. Far from it. The grabs started sticking. The kicks found their targets. G-Mac, his mouth watering with each crunching tackle, finally got a chance to be involved. Just like Two Point Oh he shrugged off the advice of his spinal surgeon and donned the Tigers jumper once more. Into the ruck he went. Coyote took a big spoil on the boundary to diffuse another attack. Skinny took a sliding grab from Hasto’s pass and hit J-Mac on the lead. Just a point was scored. They needed something more. There were only five minutes left when the moment came when the energy and momentum finally swung the Tigers way, and it was Life Member Rutty who was in the thick of it. Taken high moments before, Rutty then found himself under a towering kick surrounded by Cambodian players. Up he went, courageous as always and a Cambodian player went down crying foul. The Cambodian players presumed Rut was taking revenge so several of their players rushed in. In went Drew, holding strong, protecting his mate, throwing no punches. A Cambodian hit Drew like a fly on a windshield and all hell broke loose. Players rushed from everywhere, at least one Cambodian sprinted in from the sideline and the more sensible Cambodian players rushed to intercept him. Among the mele the ball spilled out -the umpire had not stopped play- and Old Fox Welby, crafty as always, tonked it over his head to J-Mac, standing alone in the goal square who slotted it through. The goal was awarded, the scrum dispersed and all the energy was suddenly with the Tigers.
With three minutes to go a ball-up was awarded just outside the Cambodian goal square. Khengy whispered to J-Mac to hold his spot before tapping it straight down his throat for J-Mac to snap another. Up they went the Tigers, belief surging through them, the bench screaming “one more goal” as the players rushed back into position. They won the tap. The ball went to ground and Hasto caught a Swan holding the ball. He ran around the mark, bombed it into the forward line and J-Mac, torn calf and broken finger forgotten, took the grab. He pushed himself free of his opponent, took a step and then saw Pez, streaming into the goal square for his captain. J-Mac handballed it over his head, Pez caught it on the run and soccered it through. The Tigers went up, Pez’s shirt came off and they knew they had done it.
What a moment it was. What a comeback. The team came in tight, J-Mac pumped us up further, calling it one of the greatest comebacks in Tigers history. Then Pez told everyone off for not coming to training. There were watery eyes as the players embraced, such was the emotion of the moment. For so long in that match they seemed destined to lose but the Tigers came home. They had beaten the odds.
Of course the men’s tournament still had one game to go. The mathematics was simple. If Cambodia won then the Tigers would take the Indochina Cup for the first time in a decade. But it was not to be. In the final match Cambodia learned for themselves how hard it is to back up. They fought hard but in truth never looked like winning it. Vietnam won the match comfortably and rightfully defended the Indochina Cup. Lucky for them too because they had forgotten to bring the trophy with them on tour.
It was a great day to be a Tiger. It was a weekend of friendship, a huge test of fitness and there was a good taste of f@%# winning. Everyone played their part. Two Point had a huge game down back, head down, tough as always. Kai was relentless, no thought given to his recently broken finger. Drew, Khengy and Jayden gave us parity in the ruck and never stopped trying. So many players played every single minute. So many played with injuries. It was a weekend that grows a team and binds it together, symbolised by Big Drew, who played so hard he was unable to manage the steps of the nightclub, being helped home by his loyal teammates. It was a special performance on a great tour that made everyone involved so proud to wear the jumper. Congratulations, all. Three cheers for the Thailand Tigers.
Bring on the Asian Champs!
Tournament Summary
| Mens’ competition | Womens’ competition |
| Thailand drew with Vietnam 57-57 Thailand defeated Cambodia 51-49 Vietnam defeated Cambodia 78-49 Winners: Vietnam | Vietnam defeated Cambodia 44-7 Winners: Vietnam |
Game 1
| Thailand | Vietnam | |||||
| G | B | T | G | B | T | |
| Q1 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Q2 | 4 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| Q3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| Q4 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 0 | 24 |
| T | 9 | 3 | 57 | 9 | 3 | 57 |
Thailand Goal Scorers
- Welby: 3
- Spoke: 2
- Jmac: 2
- Hasto: 1
- Pez: 1
Game 2 (Womens)
| Cambodia | Vietnam | |||||
| G | B | T | G | B | T | |
| Q1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 14 |
| Q2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 7 |
| Q3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 21 |
| Q4 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| T | 1 | 1 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 44 |
Game 3
| Cambodia | Thailand | |||||
| G | B | T | G | B | T | |
| Q1 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 2 | 3 | 15 |
| Q2 | 2 | 5 | 17 | 1 | 3 | 9 |
| Q3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 2 | 8 |
| Q4 | 1 | 3 | 9 | 3 | 1 | 19 |
| T | 6 | 13 | 49 | 7 | 9 | 51 |
Thailand Goal Scorers
- Jmac: 3
- Mani: 1
- Welby: 1
- Hasto: 1
- Pez: 1
Game 4
| Cambodia | Vietnam | |||||
| G | B | T | G | B | T | |
| Q1 | 1 | 1 | 7 | 4 | 2 | 26 |
| Q2 | 1 | 4 | 10 | 3 | 1 | 19 |
| Q3 | 4 | 2 | 26 | 2 | 1 | 13 |
| Q4 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 3 | 2 | 20 |
| T | 7 | 7 | 49 | 12 | 6 | 78 |