Glenelg and North Adelaide fight out draw in SANFL
Glenelg is closing in on the minor premiership, but bottom-placed North Adelaide has shown there is still plenty of fight in the Roosters as they shared the points at Prospect.
Glenelg is all but guaranteed the minor premiership despite surprisingly being held to a draw by bottom-placed North Adelaide at Prospect Oval on Sunday.
The Tigers have climbed five points clear of second-placed Adelaide, although they have left the door slightly ajar for the Crows, who will not play their round 16 contest until next Sunday.
To claim top spot, the Crows would have to beat West Adelaide, Woodville-West Torrens and South Adelaide and hope the Tigers lose to the Bloods and Sturt. The Double Blues and Port Adelaide can still mathematically finish top, but they would need a miracle.
The draw comes just two rounds after the Roosters upset the Crows at home.
The inside 50 count gives every indication the Tigers should have claimed the win, having 48 visits compared to 33 for the Roosters.
But poor delivery deep into attack and an inability of the Tigers’ forwards to break free of the committed Roosters’ defence meant they failed to capitalise on the territorial dominance.
“We could not get any flow or movement in our game,” Tigers football manager Paul Sandercock said. “We struggled most of the day to get some clean possession and our entry to the forward line was poor for most of the day.
“I thought we overused the footy by hand and were not as clean with our decision making, handballing rather than kick it and hit up the options.
“Credit to North, they made it difficult for us and we could not get any system going.”
There was committed pressure from both teams from the outset and it took 13 minutes for a goal, courtesy of Tigers’ forward Luke Reynolds when he was accurate from 50m on the run.
The Tigers’ work when not in possession was impressive with the smothers, tackles and harassing. But they could not finish off the solid work and get the rewards on the scoreboard.
The Roosters were using Tanner Smith effectively on the wing, while Jarrad Allmond and Tom Schwarz got their hands to plenty of ball.
Luke Partington racked up the disposals as usual, Brad Close continued his fine season and down back Max Proud stood firm for the Tigers.
The Roosters’ first goal did not come until 12 minutes into the second quarter when Jake Keller dribbled the ball through from close range.
The inefficiency dogged both teams for most of the contest and there was just one goal for the final term when youngster Finn Betterman kicked truly for the Bays.
The desperation of the home side was no more evident than Alex Spina’s smother late in the fourth quarter to prevent the Tigers from going inside 50.
“It was a hard, physical game and it ebbed and flowed,” Roosters football manager Darryl Wintle said.
“The guys are still keen to fight the season out and get ready for an assault on next year. There is still something to play for and the boys still have some fight which is great.”
SCOREBOARD
NORTH ADELAIDE 0.3 1.8 4.10 4.15 (39)
GLENELG 1.7 2.9 3.12 4.15 (39)
BEST - North: C. Craig, Keller, Smith, Slee, Laurie, T. Schwarz. Glenelg: Proud, Close, Partington, Betterman.
GOALS - North: Olekalns, Hender, Laurie, Keller. Glenel: Reynolds, Partington, Betterman, Close.
UMPIRES - Beyer, Crosby, Hundertmark.
CROWD - 2454 at Prospect Oval.
