Canberra Demons crashed Redland vice-captain Brad Howard’s 100th game milestone party with a well-earned 21-point win in the opening round of the NEAFL season on Saturday.
With only one point in it at half-time, the Demons’ constant aggressiveness at the footy was the catalyst for the 16.7 (103) to 12.10 (82) triumph at Allinsure Park in Canberra.
With impressive performances by co-captains Jordan Harper and Aaron Bruce and playing-coach Kade Klemke, it showed that Demons have a resilient leadership group making them a strong competitor this year.
Redland’s coach, Leigh Harding, was disappointed with the loss, saying there is a lot they need to improve on.
“We came up here full of confidence and Canberra outplayed us and outworked us,” he said.
Canberra led by a point at both quarter-time and half-time in a see-sawing contest with multiple lead changes, and held on to a nine-point advantage at the last break.
Jackson Paine booted the first of the last quarter to cut the deficit to just three points, but the Demons responded with the next three for a game-high 21-point lead at the 16-minute mark, before holding on for the rest of the game.
Both sides showed great contest at the footy, and despite Paine’s dominant performance for a return of 4.3 for Redland, they couldn’t break the Demons in the last quarter.
Klemke hopes the Demons will continue to surprise people this year.
“Redland had a great pre-season and people expected them to be pretty red hot today, but I think people forgot about us,” he said.
“Everyone’s been talking about Redland Bombers but they haven’t been talking about the Canberra Demons,” he said. “I was happy with the performances all over the ground, we just need to continue on improving our skills as there were times we were doubling their inside 50s and not scoring.”
Canberra will take on Aspley at their home ground next weekend, while Redland are set to host Gold Coast Suns at Tidbold Park in their first home match of the season on Sunday.
Canberra Demons v Redland Bombers at Allinsure Park
CANBERRA 4.3 8.5 13.6 16.7 (103). REDLAND 4.4 8.6 11.9 12.10 (92)
GOALS – Canberra: B Fulford 3 J Bennett 3 A Bruce 2 L Harper 2 J Turner W Muir L Meline A Swan C Milne N Pleming. Redland: J Paine 4 K Walsh 2 L Rogerson M Thomson A Christensen S Mills C Cameron J Huddy.
BEST – Canberra: J Harper K Klemke N Pleming A Bruce M Maguire A Swan. Redland: J Paine H Bertoli-Simmonds A Williams B Bailey.
