AustralianFootball.com Celebrating the history of the great Australian game
Round: 1 Venue: Hickinbotham Oval Date: Fri, 30-03-2018 1:10 pm Crowd: 2,893 | |||||
South Adelaide | 2.1.13 | 4.5.29 | 10.7.67 | 14.8.92 | |
Glenelg | 3.3.21 | 4.8.32 | 5.9.39 | 7.12.54 | |
GLEN by 8 | GLEN by 3 | SOUTH by 28 | SOUTH by 38 |
Weather |
16.3°C 22.5°C |
0mm 60% 1020.0mb |
15km/h SW |
The official season kick-off takes us to the Hickinbotham Oval in Noarlunga, it was a Clash of the Cats as the Panthers hosted the Tigers. Things certainly were looking bleak for the Panthers before the season had begun, with several key players heading out to other pastures after a sixth-placed finish. The Tigers had just as bad an end to their 2017 campaign, but had recruited seemingly well in the off-season. Head-to-head last year, these sides won their respective home games with South taking a five-point win in Round 3, the Tigers responded with a 55-point hiding in Round 13. The Tigers had the wood on the Panthers early on, but inaccuracy on goal allowed South to stay within two kicks at quarter-time after a 3.3 to 2.1 opening term. The inaccuracy bug settled in both camps in the second term, the Panthers drawing the gap back to three points come half-time after kicking 2.4 to the Tigers' horrid 1.5. Despite the scoreline saying otherwise, the Tigers had quite the defensive edge in the first half. The Panthers adapted in fine fashion when play resumed, breaking through that wall in the third quarter to ram through six goals to one. South's two behinds to one saw South run out to a 28-point lead at three quarter-time. The Panthers would go on to add a further 4.1 to the Tigers' 2.3 in the final term to run out 38-point winners, a fine start for new coach Jarrad Wright.
Joel Cross edged out the returning Keegan Brooksby for best afield honours for South, the Tigers named Carl Nicholson as their best.