West Adelaide responded to a mighty challenge from South Adelaide to claim SANFL points

WEST Adelaide was forced to respond to a serious challenge from South Adelaide at Richmond Oval to claim back-to-back wins in the SANFL.

South Adelaide star Joel Cross was in the thick of the action against West Adelaide. Picture: Matt Loxton/AAP

JUST a little over two weeks back West Adelaide was embarrassed with a 138-point loss to North Adelaide.

Bloods coach Gavin Colville did not hold back with his honest words, nor his punishment on the training track, and the response from his players has been stunning.

After conquering Central District in Elizabeth last week, the Bloods claimed another scalp with a two-point victory over South Adelaide at Richmond Oval on Tuesday night.

The Bloods were outstanding for the first two quarters, slipped into bad habits in the third and then showed tremendous fight with their backs to the wall to secure the two premiership points.

The Panthers were their own worst enemy in the first quarter, and there was no more glaring example than just three minutes into the contest when Bloods strong-marking forward Jason Middleton kicked the first of his three goals for the term.

The key forward no doubt appreciated his opponent kicking the ball straight to him 15m from goal after a Bloods behind.

Kicking the ball into the man on the mark was just one of the issues for the visitors, there was also poor decision making and lazy defensive actions.
The constant turnover ball from the Panthers turned into a feeding frenzy for the ball-hungry Bloods and they bombarded their attacking zone. So lopsided was the territory advantage, the Bloods had 10 visits inside their 50m in the first 11 minutes compared to one.

And that one resulted in a goal to Sam Overall a minute into the game.

The Bloods were given too much latitude and they ran and created with damaging effect.

Even when the Bloods overplayed a situation, young gun Izak Rankine, playing his first game for the season following suspension, was able to kick a goal four minutes into the second term to stretch his side’s buffer to 30 points.

Rankine’s pace and skills were a problem for the Panthers’ defence and he bagged three goals for the second quarter.

The Panthers found finally found some momentum and composure to cut the deficit to 15 points, only to slip back into sloppy ways and concede the final two goals in the first half.

Whatever Panthers coach Jarrad Wright said at halftime had the desired impact with the visitors taking control in the third quarter, nailing five unanswered goals for the term to grab the lead and take the momentum.

Colville said he was happy with the standard of footy shown by the team.

“We just had to guts it out in the last quarter,” he said.

“In the first half we looked good but it showed if our work rate is not where it needs to be we are going to be vulnerable.

“Hopefully what happened two weeks ago is a blessing in disguise. It was not just the players, things with our gameplan as well.

“It became evident the players were a bit unsure so I take that responsibility.

“It gave us a chance to look at that and reset. These guys have good character, but character can get you only so far.

“We have just broken things down and made footy a little simpler for them.”

WEST ADELAIDE 5.3 9.3 9.7 12.12 (84)

SOUTH ADELAIDE 1.3 4.6 9.8 12.10 (82)

BEST - West: Stevens, Middleton, Noble, Wilson, Bates, Burgess. South: Haines, Cross, Brooksby, Rose, Fitt.

GOALS - West: Rankine 4, Middleton 3, Anderson, Keough, Bates, Karpany, Pillion. South: Fitt 3, Davis 2, Brooksby, Rankine, Noble, Haines, Overall, Raitt, Biemans.

UMPIRES - Harris, Bryce, Bowen.

CROWD - 2103 at City Mazda Stadium, Richmond.