THE North Queensland Stingers over-35s bounced back from their opening-round loss at the AFL Masters National Carnival to beat South Australia by 32 points at Watsons Oval yesterday.
In sweltering heat, the Stingers boasted superior run in the final two quarters to pull away from their southern rivals after leading by two points at halftime.
Stingers coach Rick Hanlon revealed after the match his team always planned to exploit the weather to its advantage.
"In the third quarter we talked about the heat and just how much it would affect them," Hanlon said.
"Being from South Australia they were not going to be as used to it as we were.
"But I still thought the character our boys showed was fantastic.
"I know it's masters footy and it’s about having fun but these blokes just had a ball.
"First game we got beat and we were a bit unlucky but there were no moans and groans. Everyone came off laughing and joking the same way they are now."
Hanlon said the carnival was as much about creating memories as it was winning games.
"You never know when you're going to play your last game of footy, so when you do leave the field you want to know you left an imprint on the game," he said.
"What we're doing now is the type of stuff we'll talk about when we run into each other in 10 years."
