Hamilton Kangaroos snare come-from-behind against Portland win in dramatic fashion

The Kangaroos, inspired by best-on-ground medallist Kane Uebergang and Josh Pepper, kicked six unanswered goals in an inspired final term to give new coach Matt Dunn his maiden victory.

Portland ventured forward in the dying stages and Aaron Shepherd was running into an open goal as the siren sounded.

The goal was initially counted, signalling a Tigers’ victory, before the decision was reversed, handing the Kangaroos an 11.13 (79) to 11.11 (77) triumph.

Dunn said the Kangaroos’ bench was confident the siren sounded before Shepherd’s attempt.

“It was a little bit of a worry for a start. I’d heard the siren before he’d kicked so I was of the belief we’d won,” he said.

“Thankfully they had a re-look at it and commonsense prevailed and we got the win, so it’s very exciting.”

Dunn was rapt with the Kangaroos’ response after the main break when they kicked nine goals to two.

“It was probably a game of two halves,” he said.

“The second half our pressure really increased and our willingness to work hard for each other and that created opportunities for us to kick goals. 

“When the footy is going your way and you’ve got momentum, all of a sudden it doesn’t quite hurt as much to do that gut-running.”

Injured Portland captain Rhys Egan, who heard the siren before Shepherd’s kick, lamented the Tigers’ lack of fitness in the second half.

“It seemed to be that blokes stopped running and stopped working for each other,” he said.

“I know we were out on our legs but we didn’t want to work for each other, which was the disappointing part of it.

“They were running in waves in that last quarter and we were standing there doing nothing.”