![OPPORTUNITY TAKEN: Late inclusion Sam Foley kicked three goals and impressed his coach in the Blues' 17-point win. Picture: Paul Scambler OPPORTUNITY TAKEN: Late inclusion Sam Foley kicked three goals and impressed his coach in the Blues' 17-point win. Picture: Paul Scambler](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/8mt7fPj3AeZSAF4grZ2EUc/ca300790-3c69-4ea3-ada6-9455ca759e4d.jpg/r0_0_2637_1908_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
They were challenged but Launceston produced their 10th win of the TSL season, defeating Clarence 10.9 (69) to 7.10 (52) at Bellerive Oval.
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Battling through wind, rain and a persistent Kangaroos outift, the Blues went into their three-week break on a positive note.
"It was a gutsy win with the amount of senior players that we had unavailable and then we lost [Michael] Musicka and [Brodie] Palfreyman in the first half and we were running on empty at the end," coach Mitch Thorp said.
"I thought the boys showed a lot of character, Fletcher Seymour led the way again on-ball with 29 disposals and Jake Smith did a pretty good job in Jobi's absence to give us some maturity around the ball.
"We knew in the second half, being down two rotations, that they would have periods of momentum but it was a really gritty performance with no Harper, Blackberry, Hinds and Hodge."
Losing the experience of Musicka to a corked neck and Palfreyman with a rib injury, and with four of their most reliable members on the sidelines, Launceston needed a young gun to stand up.
Enter Sam Foley.
Foley, who was a late inclusion for Dylan Riley (ankle soreness), impressed with three goals, all of which will feature through the week's highlight reel.
"Dyl's far too valuable of a commodity to put him out when he's a bit banged up," Thorp said.
"Sam Foley was great, we had him in our best players today. He obviously kicked three goals but outside of his three goals, he brought a lot of pressure and strength in a game where there was lots of contested ball to win.
"He was one of the young guys that took his opportunity with a number of our senior guys out."
Bailey Gillow was another young Launceston name to stand up, playing more of an inside-midfielder role after proving his worth on the outside in recent weeks.
His name was featured in the best players for the third time in three weeks as the Blues have to wait that long before their next game.
The break should strengthen them, with their sidelined players all expected to return for their July 4 clash with Glenorchy at KGV.
"We go into our double-bye in a strong position, obviously losing the one game and in top spot but we'll use the next two weeks to regenerate and try and get the cavalry back after the bye," Thorp added.
Clarence proved tough to put away for the Blues, despite leading at all three breaks, starting with an eight-point margin at the first with goals to Brendan Taylor and Foley, who both finished with three.
The home side started the second term in form, with a Colin Garland goal and plenty of inside-50s putting pressure on the ladder leaders but four consecutive majors to Ryan Tyrrell, Zach Morris, Taylor and Seymour blew out the margin at half-time.
An even third term followed, as goals to Foley and Taylor were either side of soccered Clarence majors to Harry Burgess and Trent Hope.
Brendan Hay's goal cut the margin back to 16, but once again the Blues were able to hold them off as Jackson Thurlow took a one-on-one hanger and handballed off to Foley steaming into an open goal and Morris ended the term on a high.
Clarence kicked two in blistering fashion through captain Jarrod Harper and Garland, with a Kangaroos comeback on the cards.
However, despite holding the Blues goalless, they couldn't complete it, staying in fourth spot on the table.
Luke Swinton was named the home side's best, with Keegan Ryan, Sam Green, James Bealey, Jack Preshaw and Keegan Wylie following behind.
They weren't free from the injury bug either with the dangerous Mitch Rainbird spending the second half of the game on crutches.
Next week's TSL
- North Launceston v Tigers, 2pm at UTAS Stadium
- North Hobart v Clarence, 2pm at North Hobart Oval
- Lauderdale v Glenorchy, 2pm at Lauderdale
- Bye: Launceston
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