Glenelg beats North Adelaide to win its first game of the SANFL season

GLENELG’S 35-point triumph over North Adelaide has won its first win for the season. The Roosters are left holding up the SANFL ladder.

THERE was no rush for the Glenelg players to leave the ground after conquering North Adelaide at Gliderol Stadium today.

Why should there be? The season has been a frustration for the Tigers, the 35-point triumph broke the ice and the players deserved to be swamped in triumph by the reserves, officials and fans.

There was extra gusto in the club song and getting down to the beach for an early morning recovery swim in the cool waters today seemed a little more enticing.

In contrast, the Roosters left the arena heads slumped.

Their season has spiralled out of control and they are now holding up the premiership table. Roosters coach Ken McGregor called it the club's darkest period for the past couple of years.

“The confidence we can get out of this will be immense,’’ Tigers coach Matthew Lokan said.

“The belief in the group that we can actually compete with a pretty good side like North, for our group it gives us the confidence we need to say what we are doing is actually working.’’

Let's be honest, it was an ugly game for the most part as could be anticipated given their respective positions on the ladder.

The first half, especially, lacked quality.

Turnovers were the main course on the menu for the first three quarters as both sides struggled to treasure possession and lacked conviction.

The Roosters were extremely wasteful in attack, as evident by the statistics which showed they had 21 more entries inside their attacking 50 early in the third quarter, yet trailed on the scoreboard.

The premiership points were there for the taking for the side prepared to take the game on and back themselves and it was the Tigers who found the answers with a highly productive final term.

Aaron Joseph never hides from the heat for the Tigers, Andrew Bradley leads from the front and Matthew Snook thrives on work around the packs.

Until the Tigers took control of the final quarter, the Roosters had some damaging run but their work was undone with self destruction deep in attack with missed opportunities.

“Our skills were quite horrendous most of the game,’’ McGregor said.

“Their (Tigers) pressure was really good and we were not good enough.

“It is the darkest period these guys have been in, the club has been in for a couple of years.

“Sometimes the deepest foundation can be built from the darkest times.’’