By ADEM SARICAOGLU
THE Western Jets’ 2013 TAC Cup campaign is over after fierce rival Calder knocked them out of the finals race on Sunday.
Having contested and shared the spoils in two thrillers in the home-and-away season, the Jets and Cannons met for a third time at Visy Park to settle the score, and by the final siren it was Calder who booked itself a preliminary final date with the Dandenong Stingrays.
The Cannons led the game from start to finish, establishing a three-goal buffer by quarter-time and maintaining it for the next two quarters.
Still three goals ahead at the final change, Calder kicked clear of the Jets with six of the nine goals scored in the final term on its way to a 45-point win.
Jets coach Torin Baker said Calder was simply the better team on the day.
“The stats point to them being the dominant team, but I still think we had a number of opportunities throughout the day where we were able to climb back and really make a game of it,” Baker explained.
“But we weren’t able to take a lot of those opportunities and in the end we gave up a couple of easy goals that were probably a little bit uncharacteristic of the team, and unfortunately that was probably the difference in the end.”
National combine invitee James Sicily finished his impressive TAC Cup season on a high with three goals for the game.
However, a number of the Jets’ usual contributors were down on their normal output on Sunday, allowing for some of their lesser-likes to shine.
“I really challenged some of our middle-tier players to step up today and some of them were certainly able to do that,” Baker said.
“Our real key players probably didn’t have their best games, which was disappointing.
“But at the same time, some of those players that have gone through every week have certainly had a huge burden to carry all through the year and sometimes it just becomes too much to keep doing it.”
Jayden Laverde was named the Jets’ best on Sunday, but Baker was also keen to praise the defensive efforts of Liam McMahon.
“I thought his job, not only keeping one of their dangerous forwards really quiet but just also in his offensive work, was really good,” Baker said.
On Sunday night, David Iaccarino was the highest-polling Jet in the Morrish Medal count with 12 votes, finishing equal third.
