Eagles overcome South Adelaide in tough SANFL battle
WOODVILLE-West Torrens and South Adelaide locked horns in a physical battle at Noarlunga Oval with just three points separating the sides.
THE Woodville-West Torrens changerooms at Noarlunga Oval were flooded with family and friends of the players enjoying the important three-point win over South Adelaide in a test of character on Saturday.
Eagles coach Sam Lonergan spoke of the players sacrificing a huge chunk of time to express themselves on the weekend and he wanted them to enjoy the moment.
Every win at SANFL level is special, he conceded.
And this was a special victory for the Eagles, forced to fight tooth and nail to immediately return to the winner’s list after last week’s loss to Glenelg and putting them just percentage behind fifth-placed Panthers.
“South were good, it was a high stoppage game and physical,” Lonergan said. “It was good to see them handle that and grind out the win.
“It was good to get back to winning straight away. We won five then lost last week and winning down here is tough.”
There were six lead changes in the first quarter with the heat was on as both sides attacked the confrontation with tremendous enthusiasm for the body contact.
After trading blows in a first half Lonergan described as probably not the Eagles’ best footy, the home side made its move in the third term when it built a 20-point buffer.
The Panthers just kept persisting to pick up plenty of hard balls with Abe Davis busy, Joel Cross having an influence and Joe Haines and Jake Summeton solid in defence.
But the Panthers could never feel comfortable and with good reason. The Eagles refused to wilt and sparked by Jared Petrenko and Jordan Foote, they bagged the final two goals of the third quarter and the first two of the fourth to grab the lead.
For much of the battle, it was a test of team strength and unity. Yet, it was individual acts of brilliance by Petrenko, Matthew Goldsworthy and Nick Hayes to nail goals which blasted the Eagles clear.
The Panthers were up for the challenge, however, bagging the final two goals to put a win definitely the agenda.
In last year’s elimination final loss to North Adelaide, the Panthers threw the game away with panic in the final quarter. They did it again for the final few minutes.
“I can’t fault the guys’ intent,” Panthers coach Jarrad Wright said. “Late when the pressure was on there were some key fundamental errors, missed handballs, fumbles, skill errors.
“Full credit to the Eagles, they came to play and they were better in the last quarter. But I thought our effort was terrific, we were just not good enough for four quarters.”
EAGLES 3.0 6.4 9.7 14.8 (92)
SOUTH ADELAIDE 3.4 6.7 10.8 13.11 (89)
BEST - Eagles: Petrenko, Goldsworthy, Foote, Rowe, Boyd, Firns. South: Davis, Cross, Summerton, Haines, Cailotto.
GOALS - Eagles: J. Hayes, Rowe 3, Moore 2, Petrenko, N. Hayes, Hall, Foote, Goldsworthy, Guilhaus. South: Overall, Liddle, Cross, Whittlesea 2, Biemans, Davis, Karpany, Sampson.
UMPIRES - Harris, Hundertmark, Sboro.
CROWD - 1104 at Flinders University Stadium, Noarlunga.