Glenelg closes in on SANFL finals spot after beating Adelaide in Bordertown
Glenelg took a huge step to returning to the SANFL finals when it conquered Adelaide in Bordertown and took a stranglehold on fifth spot on the ladder.
GLENELG has one foot firmly in finals after a gritty 17-point win over Adelaide in Bordertown on Sunday.
The Tigers have some breathing space in fifth spot with three games remaining and have unearthed another young star in Jackson Edwards - son of Crows legend Tyson - who shone in his league debut.
The Crows trailed by six goals at three-quarter-time but rallied through Troy Menzel and got to within 17 points midway through the final term before Carl Nicholson showed a cool head, slotting a goal from the boundary to seal the Glenelg victory.
“It was a crucial game in the context of our season, a little bit of an unknown coming down here and credit to the boys, I thought they played some really consistent footy,” Glenelg coach Matthew Lokan said.
“The last quarter Adelaide gained some ascendancy and we knew that was going to come. But we were able to withhold it and come away with a win.
“I thought the first three quarters was nearly as good as we’ve played all year - our ability to put them under pressure - and we had 86 tackles for the game.”
The Crows suffered another injury blow, with key defender Kyle Hartigan, who was returning from a hamstring injury, leaving the ground in the first quarter with another hamstring strain.
He was able to jog off the ground but had his left hamstring iced and did not return.
Adelaide coach Ryan O’Keefe praised his side’s spirited performance to fight its way back into the contest.
“That last quarter I was really proud of the guys. We lost Hartigan early and for such an inexperienced team to lose one of our most experienced guys, to keep plugging away and play the ball in our half (was pleasing),” O’Keefe said.
“Again, it’s just a bit of our finishing work and execution, and a lot of Glenelg’s scores were off our turnovers. But that’s what we’re going to get with this group. They’re developing and maturing and hopefully from games like this, they learn and get better.”
Edwards’ first touch in senior footy saw him turn on the spot and hit Terry Milera with a left-foot pass inside 50 which led to Glenelg’s third-straight goal to open the game, but the Crows rallied with two goals just before quarter-time to Blake Launer.
With Hartigan out of the game, Liam McBean took full advantage of his height and kicked two goals in the third term as the Tigers took control. But Adelaide again fought back in the final quarter when Menzel sprang to life and Tom Pinyon took a strong contested mark and kicked a goal.
Just as the Crows looked like causing an upset, strong marks to Nicholson, James Sellar and Edwards - who took a one-handed mark going back with the flight of the footy - helped the Tigers steady.
“I thought he (Edwards) was good - his ability as a kid to go inside the contest and win his own footy was good,” Lokan said.
“He didn’t have a huge impact statistically but did his role for the team.”