South Adelaide beats Glenelg in opening round of SANFL

CLASSY ruckman Keegan Brooksby showed his true value to South Adelaide with a superb performance to lead the Panthers to a 38-point victory over Glenelg in the first round.

Jesse White and Keegan Brooksby (right). Picture: Tait Schmaal

SOUTH Adelaide ruckman Keegan Brooksby was a massive loss for the club when drafted to Gold Coast after the 2014 season.

Just how significant was his absence was advertised on Friday when he returned to Noarlunga Oval to fire the Panthers to a 38-point victory over Glenelg in the opening round.

Brooksby smashed the Tigers at the stoppages, allowing his midfield mates led by dual Magarey Medallist Joel Cross to dominate the clearances.

The Tigers were superb in the first quarter, using effective ball movement and tremendous pressure to have the ascendancy.

Glenelg’s Aaron Joseph wrestles with South’s Joel Cross at Noarlunga. Picture: TAIT SCHMAAL.

But as new Tigers coach Mark Stone noted, it was a dam wall ready to crack as the Panthers took control of possession from midway through the second quarter.

The dam wall sprung plenty of leaks in the third term when the home side piled on six goals while conceding only one.

“Glenelg is a good defensive side and set up structurally well,” Panthers coach Jarrad Wright said.

“We had to reset at halftime and the third quarter set the game up for us. In ruck, Keegan gave us first look most hit-outs.”

The Tigers moved the ball with conviction and were able to switch the ball will damaging impact in the first term.

Matthew Snook picked up plenty of touches as is his way and Terry Milera bagged three early goals to provide some headaches for the Panthers’ defence.

Recruit Jesse White attempts to pick up the loose ball in his first game for Glenelg after crossing from Collingwood. Picture: TAIT SCHMAAL

Well structured, the Tigers were able to generate plenty of opportunities from turnover ball and built a 16-point buffer eight minutes into the second quarter.

It seemed the Panthers were hanging onto the ropes before cutting the deficit to only three points at halftime as they forced the Tigers into errors with increased pressure.

Cross became a massive issue for the Tigers, Jake Summerton did a good job on Jesse White and Mark Noble had a terrific league debut.

Desperate and committed, the Panthers nailed the first six goals of the third quarter.

“They got us around the stoppages and it was a dam wall a bit in the end,” Stone said. “We knew it was an issue at halftime and tried a few things to fix it.

“It is hard to arrest when you are not winning stoppages. Once they got that run on we were in survival mode a bit.”

Stone was said the side’s discipline was a little wanting.