The Nauru Chiefs followed up their big win against France in Round 3 of the AFL International Cup 2017 to beat a determined Canadian team in convincing fashion in Melbourne.
After a scrappy start to the game yesterday, the Chiefs started to assert their dominance in the 2nd quarter, getting on top in the middle with young ruckman, Kais Tatum getting the better of the Canadian big men in the ruck contests.
Kaison's influence lifted his middle brigade with Mallinson Batsiua, German Lightning Grundler, Tiana Waidubu and Patrick Agadio lifting their work rate and winning more of the clearances.
The Chief's middle brigade also set up well in general play zoning off well and making it very difficult for the Canadians to get any flow-on and keeping the ball locked in the Chief's attacking half for the majority of the game.
In the forward line, Donatello Moses was a handful for the Canadians defence as he worked hard to provide a target for his midfield.
Young Richmond Spanner was again competitive deep in the forward line and provided the highlight of the day with a fantastic screamer in the second quarter.
Vice-Captain, Kenneth Oppenheimer exerted his presence as the game wore on. Kenneth's speed and evasiveness troubled the Canadians and he was damaging whenever he was close to the ball.
In defence the backline again stood firm making it difficult for Canada to score.
They gave away a couple of silly free kicks which led to easy goals for the Canadians but overall they did a fantastic job in restricting the Northwind to just 3 goals.
Fullback, David Adeang and Graigor Uepa Uera were prominent in defence but it was Niga Haulangi who was the standout defender for the Chiefs in this game as he not only covered the holes in defence but he also ran the ball strongly out of defence with good hard running and effective disposals to release the pressure.
The Chief's final game will be on Friday against the Great Britain Bulldogs.
It will be a tough encounter and another strong challenge for the Chiefs. The Bulldogs have had a good tournament and their confidence will be high after their convincing win against Fiji.
If the Chief's win they will finish 5th in the tournament.
Match Report
Round 4
Nauru 0.4 4.6 7.6 8.8 (56)
Canada 0.4 2.4 3.6 3.6 (24)
Goal Kickers: K. Oppenheimer, J. Uepa, D. Moses, P. Agadio, R. Spanner, S. KempMaaki, B. Deidenang, K. Tatum
Best Players: Niga Haulangi, Mallinson Batsiua, Bronco Deidenang, Donatello Moses, Graigor Uepa Uera, Kais Tatum, Kenneth Oppenheimer , Patrick Agadio
Photo by AFL Nauru