Northern Territory's 20.10 (130) to 6.11 (47) victory stemmed from its supremacy at the clearances in round three of the NAB AFL Under-18 Championships.
A member of last year’s under-18 All Australian team as a bottom aged player, Anderson has added the key ingredient of work rate to his game this year.
The 18-year-old displayed an ability to work both ways with some strong gut running and his work ethic, blended with clean hands and smart finishing, makes him an exciting prospect.
Anderson finished with 23 disposals, three goals and eight tackles, while Jack McEwin (20 touches) and Jake Neade (18) were pivotal in the engine room.
Apart from a three-goal burst from the Rams at the start of the second quarter, the game was under the Thunder’s control from start to finish.
The Thunder’s stoppage work and their ability to pressure the opposition yielded numerous turnovers.
Their accuracy in front of goal was another highlight, underlined by 8.3 in the final term to close out the contest.
Rams forward Liam Flaherty kicked three goals and showed a good set of hands and Jedd Clothier (15 touches) worked hard all day, but the team could not stop the Thunder onslaught.
NSW/ACT 0.4 3.5 4.9 6.11 (47)
NORTHERN TERRITORY 4.3 9.7 12.7 20.10 (130)
GOALS
NSW/ACT: Flaherty 3, Redfern, Clothier, Weir
Northern Territory: Anderson 3, Assan 3, Roberts 2, Williams 2, McEwin 2, Tipungwuti 2, Alice, Barry, Ankers, Stokes, Neade, Hatcher
BEST
NSW/ACT: Flaherty, Clothier, Hampton, Redfern
Northern Territory: Neade, McEwin, Tipungwuti, Anderson, Wasley-Black, Alice
The views in this article are those of the author and not necessarily those of the AFL or its clubs
