Adelaide fan favourite Sarah ‘Tex’ Perkins stakes claim for AFLW recall with three goals for Woodville-West Torrens in SANFLW
Crows fan favourite Sarah Perkins stakes her claim for an AFLW recall, the individual game goalkicking record gets broken and Norwood topples the reigning premier – all in the SANFLW’s round two wrap.
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Adelaide Crows fan favourite Sarah Perkins pushes her claim for an AFLW recall after starring with Woodville-West Torrens, the individual goalkicking record for a game gets broken and Norwood topples the reigning premier.
Read Messenger Community News’ match reports on all the round two action.
WEST ADELAIDE 7.3 (45) WOODVILLE-WEST TORRENS 6.6 (42)
CROWS fan favourite Sarah ‘Tex’ Perkins responded to getting dropped by kicking three goals for Woodville-West Torrens against West Adelaide at Richmond on Friday night.
Making her SANFLW debut, the full-forward almost helped the Eagles claim their first win after bagging 3.4, while collecting 11 disposals, four marks and nine kicks.
The visitors came home strong but left it too late and lost by a three points.
Eagles coach Tess Baxter said Perkins’ attitude after being sent back to the state league was commendable and she added leadership to the inexperienced side.
“I think Sarah was great,” Baxter said.
“She had some opportunities to be on the end of some good delivery from the girls.
“But when it (the ball) didn’t come in right, she tried to work herself into good positions and I thinks he was very selfless with the ball.
“She looked to go in and win it and then spread it to some of the younger girls.
“It was really good for us to have a real senior player around the group.
“Sometimes you don’t know what to expect from the girls coming back from AFLW to play at state level because they’d rather be playing in the top level but I thought she handled it really, really well.”
Perkins was upstaged in the goalkicking department by West Adelaide’s Chelsea Biddell, who broke the SANFLW’s record for the number of majors kicked by a player in a game.
Biddell booted six goals, including three in both the second and third terms.
Bloods coach Shane Moon praised Biddell’s performance.
“She led up to the ball carrier, was very strong overhead and her kicking at goal was elite,” Moon said.
“She was kicking from 40m out, around her body, everything.
“She provided great movement and was obviously very accurate in front of goals.”
West plays South Adelaide, which is coming off a loss to Norwood, at home this Friday night.
Moon said sticking to the “basic fundamentals” and “attacking the ball hard” would help the Bloods beat South.
NORWOOD 5.5 (33) SOUTH ADELAIDE 3.3 (21)
Norwood coach Steve Symonds says his side must not get too carried away with its upset, 12-point win over South Adelaide at The Parade on Friday night.
Last year’s SANFLW runner-up broke away in the final term to beat the reigning premiers 5.5 (33) to 3.3 (21).
Symonds said the victory would not erase the pain of last season’s loss in the flag decider but believed his side was showing some really positive signs.
“A win is always good,” said Symonds, who led the Redlegs to the premiership in the competition’s inaugural season.
“But it’s only the second game of the season, so it’s still early stages.
“We’ve still got a lot of improvement to do.
“There were some patches that were good and there were some patches that were a bit off.
“You never can redeem a grand final (loss), but South is still going to be a very good team, so it gives us a chance to see where we’re at.”
The match was tight during the first half and there were plenty of momentum swings either side.
But the hosts managed to open it up in the third term with two goals to ex-Greater Western Sydney midfielder Najwa Allen and former Adelaide Crows Monique Hollick.
South hit back late in the final term, but a major to Bree-Anna Liebhard sealed the result for Norwood.
Allen was a standout with 24 possessions and two majors, while Dunn (17 touches, one goal) was not far behind.
“We brought in some girls who have brought in a bit more outside run,” Symonds said.
“Najwa Allen and Hannah Dunn … have both fitted in really well and they brought some pace and also some smartness around the ball.”
The Panthers’ goalkickers were Lauren Buchanan, Jessica Kirk and Indy Tahau, while Czenya Cavouras was strong with 19 touches.
Young gun Montana McKinnon and Samantha Partt (18 touches apiece) also played well.
STURT 5.5 (35) NORTH ADELAIDE 6.6 (42)
Sturt fell to a seven-point loss against North Adelaide in the earlier game at The Parade on Friday night.
The Double Blues almost snatched the game with a few plays late in the final term, but the siren eventually beat them and they went down 6 (42) to 5.5 (35).
Sturt could not stop Roosters forward Kelly Barltrop, who booted five goals.
Double Blues co-captain and ex-Crow Georgia Bevan battled hard with 24 disposals.
North co-skipper Nadia von Bertouch also led the Roosters’ disposal count with 20, while Paige Allan (16) and Erica Greet (15) were also strong.
North sits fifth with a 1-1 record, while Sturt is seventh and winless.
GLENELG 5.7 (37) CENTRAL DISTRICT 3.2 (20)
Glenelg coach Jason Fairall says an improvement in skills is behind the Tigers claiming their second win from as many games on Friday night.
The Tigers enjoyed a 5.7 (37) to 3.2 (20) victory against newcomer Central District at Elizabeth Oval.
Glenelg’s round-one win was against fellow newcomer Woodville-West Torrens and Fairall was under no illusions his team would be challenged more by clubs that had been in the competition longer.
“I was happy, but in fairness, I think the expansion teams are going to improve as the season goes on,” Fairall said.
“We have certainly spent a lot of time working on our skills.
“Central had nearly 100 tackles for the game but we still went at 61 per cent disposal efficiency despite that pressure.
“We were pretty confident in how we wanted to play but also understand Central is in a development phase in terms of their game plan.”
Glenelg skipper Cass Hartley and Ellie Kellock claimed 18 possessions each, while Morphettville Park recruit Ellen Fauser was also strong with 16 touches.
Central coach Shaun Ribbons praised his side’s pressure and attack on the football.
Ribbons said he could see small improvements and believed players would get better as the 10-round campaign went on.
“This week, we were certainly better at the start of the contest,” Ribbons said.
“We came in at quarter-time and there was only six points the difference.
“Our intent was awesome, our competitiveness was great.
“We had 93 tackles which was pretty ridiculous.
“But they (Glenelg) were probably a bit more polished and moved the ball a little bit better than us, which was probably part of being in the system a bit longer.”
ROUND THREE
FRIDAY, MARCH 1
■ Glenelg v North Adelaide – Richmond Oval, 5.45pm
■ West Adelaide v South Adelaide – Richmond Oval, 7.30pm
■ Central District v Woodville-West Torrens – Norwood Oval 6pm
■ Norwood v Sturt – Norwood Oval, 7.45pm
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