South Adelaide conquers West Adelaide in lack-lustre SANFL contest

West Adelaide continued its habit of strong first quarters, but it was an all too familiar tale against South Adelaide at Richmond Oval.

West Adelaide defender Pat Levicki takes on the post under pressure from Alex Cailotto at Richmond Oval. Picture: Matt Loxton

SOUTH Adelaide coach Jarrad Wright had every reason to be concerned late in the first quarter this was going to be one of those days where the hairline recedes just that little more.

West Adelaide had beaten the Panthers in three successive contests before seriously threatening the home side at Noarlunga Oval in round 6. Wright even called the Bloods their bogey side on the eve of the Richmond Oval battle on Sunday.

When Panthers forward Sam Overall blasted the ball deep into attack with time almost expired in the first term, teammate Liam Fitt need only shepherd the ball through for a goal, or toe-poke it on the goal line.

Instead, it hit his thigh to rob the Panthers of their only goal for the term despite kicking with the wind advantage. The moment sort of summed up the visitors’ opening term when they coughed up poor decisions, panic actions and were reactive.

Andre Parrella tries to kick away under pressure from South's Cameron McGree at Richmond Oval. Picture: MATT LOXTON

The Panthers survived the shaky first term, however, to win by 28 points and grab third spot on the ladder.

“We kicked five points in the first quarter and it was 3.10 at half-time,” Wright said. “There are those moments in a game when you think decision making issues may effect us in the long term.

“When you keep teams in the game for longer due to innacuracy or poor inside 50 work, it makes you work harder for longer.

“Some of those moments you look at and go ‘what is going on’. If you look at that as a benchmark game, you would say it was below par.”

The Bloods have made it a habit this season to explode quickly into games and they were at it again, putting the opposition under pressure with their tackling and defensive actions.

And they were rewarded with plenty of turnover ball from the Panthers to constantly charge forward. Dallas Willsmore was prominent and Josh Ryan continued his solid season in defence for the Bloods.

As Bloods coach Gavin Colville lamented, his side just has to get better at its inside 50 scoring ratio. They had 19 visits inside the 50, twice as many as the Panthers, for 2.2.

Colville also spoke of being hammered at the clearances in the second quarter when the Panthers secured more possessions at the contest to bombard its attacking zone.

Malcolm Karpany is a class act for the Panthers, while dual Magarey Medallist Joel Cross has that knack of imposing himself on a game when needed. Down back Joe Haines has grown in statue and his terrific decision making was better than most.

The Panthers bagged three goals on the back of a lift in workrate in the second term and conceded just two behinds, before building a 27-point buffer at three-quarter time.

The standard dropped a couple of notches in the final term with the Bloods over using the handball and wasting prime scoring chances, and the Panthers wrecking promising movement with skill errors.

“There is something different each quarter for us,” Colville said. “We won another first quarter and should have been further in front.

“Our ability to keep running is a challenge for us, we don’t continue to run the way we do early in a game. The boys are fit, so it is not fitness.”

SCOREBOARD

SOUTH ADELAIDE 0.5 3.10 8.13 9.14 (68)

WEST ADELAIDE 2.2 2.4 5.4 5.10 (40)

BEST South Haines, Karpany, Noble, Cross, Schwarz, Summerton, West Willsmore, Ryan, Levicki, Batley, Hill.

GOALS South Cross 2, Liddle, Noble, Karpany, Sampson, Emery, Fitt, Cailotto. West G.Turner 2, Beech, Stevens, Haysman.

UMPIRES Hundertmark, Scott, Sboro.

CROWD 1346 at City Mazda Stadium, Richmond.