Queanbeyan player-coach Kade Klemke left Margaret Donoghoe Oval disappointed despite the Tigers securing a preliminary final berth.
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Klemke was disheartened with the way Tuggeranong approached the elimination semi-final, with coach Nathan Costigan making a concerted move to add some mongrel to his Hawks outfit. Costigan called upon Sean Guinard to play his first top grade game of the season in a bid to "repay the favour" after Queanbeyan "rustled [the Hawks] up" last weekend.
"They purposely went out hard to take a few of our guys out," Klemke said.
"I thought it was a bit disappointing to select a guy that hadn't played seniors and is from division four. Even in the last quarter he was trying to run off the square and hit our guys.” Queanbeyan ran out 21.21 (147) to 3.4 (22) winners, but Klemke said the tactics continued even when the home side's lead had stretched past 100 points.
"I thought that's pretty poor and I think the club should do a bit of soul-searching after that," Klemke said.
"I expect better from them. We've got a lot of respect for Tuggers and they lost a bit of our respect today."
Guinard spent seven games in fourth grade before a three-week stint in second grade, and Costigan saw the game as the perfect opportunity to "throw a cat amongst the pigeons. He's a tough footballer, we brought him in for that. When it comes to that kind of stuff, Kade's just got to suck it up," Costigan said. "Last week [Queanbeyan's] Josh Bryce was running around knocking my boys all over the park."
Klemke said all he did was teach his players to "go hard at the footy", with Bryce being a chief exponent of that. The Queanbeyan stalwart was pleased with the efforts of his youngsters, who now find themselves four quarters away from a grand final.
"We were ready from the first bounce," Klemke said. "If we can back that up against Belconnen I'll be very happy."
Queanbeyan shot out of the blocks in the early going and rammed home the advantage in a nine goals to zero third term. Klemke saw "really promising signs" in young gun Nathan Edwards' return to the senior side as he bagged five goals to partner three-goal hauls from Scott Lancaster and Alex Page.
