South Adelaide ends its long Elizabeth drought, beating the Bulldogs by eight points

SOUTH Adelaide's lengthy drought at Elizabeth is over after the spirited Panthers conquered Central District by eight points on Saturday.

South Adelaide’s Jake Veade, left, tackles Central District’s Trent Goodrem with help fro

SOUTH Adelaide's lengthy drought at Elizabeth is over after the spirited Panthers conquered Central District by eight points on Saturday.

The Bulldogs had totally dominated battles against the Panthers on their home ground, winning 16 in succession. They had won their past 18 games against the Panthers.

But this is a passionate, disciplined Panthers under new coach Brad Gotch and they came from behind to grab their fourth win for the season to remain unbeaten at the top of the premiership ladder.

Panthers ruckman Keegan Brooksby again staked a powerful claim for a role in the state team while full forward Brett Eddy is finally unleashing his true talents on the competition.

“We have got processes in place and when we do certain things well it can pan out on the ground,” Gotch said.

“We saw everyone lift in the second half and we probably did not have a poor player.

“We are playing for each other and doing the gut busting stuff. Central was fantastic and was here to play.

“They did everything in their power to win and we somehow willed ourselves over the line. “Hopefully a new era has been born because we are going to show that week in, week out - that is the key to it.”

Belief has become a crucial ingredient at the Panthers and they were forced to shrug off a tardy second quarter - when they slipped 24 points behind - to secure the premiership points.

The Bulldogs should have been further in front, if not for some incredibly comical decision making and skill errors going deep into attack.

They had punished the Panthers for some sloppy turnovers to secure the handy buffer, only to cough up a swag of clangers and allow the opposition to climb back into the contest.

Without the leadership of injured Paul Thomas and Brad Symes as well as key defender Tom Collier, the depth issues at the Bulldogs were exposed and their absence was critical in the final quarter when the Panthers grabbed the accendency with persistence.

The midfield brigade of Nick Liddle, Joel Cross and Jake Veide took advantage of Brooksby's dominance to provide a regular supply for the forwards and Eddy rewarded their efforts.

“We set ourselves as a group overall and when the opportunities presented we couldn't deliver in terms of skill level, particularly in the third quarter,” Bulldogs coach Roy Laird said.

“As a result, the opposition capitalised. We kept them in the game to a degree but you have got to take your chances when they present.”

SOUTH 4.0 5.2 8.8 12.12 (84)

CENTRAL 3.5 8.7 9.9 11.10 (76)

BEST - South: Brooksby, Eddy, Liddle, Veide, Macleod, Gulden, Daniel. Central: Habel, T. Schiller, J. Schiller, Hoskin.

SCORERS - South: Eddy 6, Liddle, Irra, Macleod, Cross, Rankine, McMahon. Central: Habel 5, Retzlaff 2, Glenn, McIntyre, Goodrem, S. Milne.

UMPIRES - Medlin, Deboy, Cook.