Panthers show they're behind coach Ron Fuller
SOUTH Adelaide brushed aside a week of turmoil and produced the upset of the SANFL season with a stirring 10-point win over West Adelaide at Noarlunga yesterday.
SOUTH Adelaide brushed aside a week of turmoil and produced the upset of the SANFL season with a stirring 10-point win over West Adelaide at Noarlunga yesterday.
Two Panthers - Toby Stribling and Todd Pfeiffer - left the club mid-week, bringing the number of mid-season exits to four, but the 21 who took the field yesterday showed they are behind coach Ron Fuller with ferocious attack on man and ball.
The win was bottom-placed South's first at Noarlunga this year and its first against the second-placed Bloods since Ron Fuller arrived at Noarlunga. It was also was a staggering 116-point turnaround on the 106-point hammering the Bloods handed South at the same ground in round three.
It was achieved on the back of hard running and tackling, defensive pressure in the forward half and smart ball use. South had 67 more disposals for the match and 66 more possessions after half-time. It had six more tackles, nine more inside-50s and a high defensive workrate which rendered West's dangerous attacking spread virtually non-existent.
Fuller praised his players but stopped short of describing the win as a potential turning point in a tumultuous season.
"It was just a good reward for effort," he said. "The boys hung in there really well, which is terrific to see. When we go into the changerooms to sing the song after a win and there are not many people in there, we'll know we've arrived because we will know that winning has become routine. We've still got a lot of work to do to get to that point."
Fuller brushed aside talk there were divisions within the club and said Stribling and Pfeiffer left because they were no longer enjoying themselves at Noarlunga. He said the squad remained focussed on working to turnaround its 2-8 start to the season.
"We've challenged a lot of our players - and a lot of our senior players - and we had to do that because we've been losing games," he said. "When you're losing games you have to challenge people and alter things and I think today showed that the 21 guys who played are honest and they want to fight for this football club."
South opened the contest with more intent than the Bloods and would have led at the first break had it not been wasteful up forward, trailing by four points.
In a second quarter largely devoid of highlights, West briefly extended its break to 12 points but was unable to put a serious gap between it and a committed South.
In a final term that featured five lead changes, South finally got the rewards it deserved. David Mackay gave the Panthers the lead early in the term but moments later John McDonald missed the chance to give them breathing space when he dropped a mark on the goal-line. Michael Still punished South at the other end to give West back the lead but South again responded through Mason Shaw. West snatched back the lead before two Michael Wundke majors sealed a famous win for South.