South Adelaide secures finals berth with win over Eagles
SOUTH Adelaide confirmed its spot in the SANFL finals after overcoming Woodville-West Torrens in the penultimate round.
THERE will be no denying South Adelaide finals action this season.
For two of the past three years it has been late-season heartache, knocked out of the top five in the final round. Not so this year after beating Woodville-West Torrens by six points at Woodville Oval on Saturday.
The Panthers are fourth on the ladder and will play North Adelaide in the elimination final in two weeks.
The loss dropped the Eagles to third, but they are guaranteed the double chance in the finals.
“It is nice to lock it away and not rely on percentage,” Panthers coach Jarrad Wright said. “We have earned our right to play finals football.
“It was a great win, a really, really terrific effort against a well structured team on their home deck.
“There was real positivity from the start. Our effort, our defensive effort, is terrific. There were still some basic unforced errors, but the way the boys fought it out when challenged in the third and fourth quarters was terrific.”
The Eagles had the wind at their backs in the first quarter, but they struggled against an opponent hungry to make a statement with the finals looming.
While the Panthers were impressive against the wind, their second quarter effort to bag four goals and prevent the Eagles adding a score was decisive.
Nick Liddle on the ball, Matt Rose and Joe Haines in defence and youngster Nathan Kreuger had a heavy influence for the visitors.
Eagles coach Michael Godden described the second term as horrendous. It was an apt word.
The ball use of the Eagles was terrible and they looked confused against a Panthers defence staying composed and prepared to work for each other with a desperate attitude.
The Eagles secured more contested ball after half-time and got more flow in their movement to close to within one point.
However, the Panthers responded and kept asking questions of their rivals. Wright is adamant his side can match the best teams and that was again evident in the hard-working mindset of his players.
“We tried to do something different we had not done in the second quarter and it derailed us,” Godden said.
“I was happy with the fight. With nothing to play for our second half was pretty strong.”
SOUTH ADELAIDE 4.3 8.4 10.6 12.7 (79)
EAGLES 4.2 4.2 8.7 11.7 (73)
BEST - South: Liddle, Rose, Kreuger, Haines, Brooksby, Davis. Eagles: Lewis, Rowland, Boyd, Goldsworthy, Sharrad.
GOALS - South: Kreuger 3, Brooksby 2, Whittlesea, Haines, Fields, Davis, Rankine, Cross, Biemans. Eagles: Goldsworthy 2, Gray, Sinor, Hall, J. Hayes, N. Hayes, Haylock, Johansen, Lewis, Poole.
INJURIES - Eagles: Guilhaus (back).
UMPIRES - Bowen, Scott, Lewis.
CROWD - 1422 at Maughan Thiem Hyundai Oval, Woodville.