Eagles midfielder Jared Petrenko sparks SANFL win over Adelaide
WOODVILLE-West Torrens midfielder Jared Petrenko bounced back to his best form winning the SANFL Advertiser player of the week and leading the Eagles’ to the SANFL minor premiership.
THE key word among the Woodville-West Torrens players at half-time in their battle against Adelaide at Woodville on Sunday was belief.
There was a feeling they had lost that belief.
Gun midfielder Jared Petrenko knew it to be true because he admits he had.
The Eagles, coming off beltings from Norwood and South Adelaide, had been smashed in all facets of the game in the first half to trail by 35 points.
“A lot of stuff goes through your mind, especially at half-time, and you start to doubt yourself a bit and the team given the form of the past 10 quarters,” Petrenko said.
“But you could feel more intensity from the boys after half-time, the energy was back. In the last quarter, I was going back to the centre thinking we were going to win.”
The longer the third quarter travelled the more ball the Eagles got from the stoppages.
That momentum carried into the final quarter and the Eagles were constantly on the attack.
Petrenko, plagued by injury this season, found his true form to be a driving force in the Eagles engineroom with a performance which earned him the honour of The Advertiser SANFL Player of the Week.
“I spent a fair bit of time out this year and then I came back against Norwood when I should have played reserves, I was not ready,” he said.
“I started to feel a bit better against South Adelaide and on the weekend I was able to get the touch back.”
Tough West Adelaide onballer Chris Schmidt, who led the club to the 2015 premiership, will retire from the SANFL after Saturday’s battle against Glenelg in Richmond.
And honest defender and premiership player Daniel Caire will also play his final game for the Bloods.