Australian Football

Match Report

The last of the Saturday matches took place in the southern suburbs, the Panthers hosting the Bloods at the Hickinbotham Oval in Noarlunga. The last encounter between these teams was an early contender for match of the season, the Bloods almost coughed it up with their accuracy issues in the final term but nicked a two-point win back at Richmond in Round 4. Perhaps it was overconfidence from a massive win against Adelaide that saw the Panthers go down to the Dogs last week, while the Bloods' confidence has taken a hit as of late after a strong first half of 2018. 

The Bloods would take advantage of some early South goal-kicking yips, they led by four points at quarter-time after scoring 2.2 to 1.4. The Panthers continued to spray them wide in the second quarter, another 1.4 effort to Westies' 4.1 saw them down by 21 points at half-time. Not that this game didn't have some highlights. It sure had more than what was going on up north, that's for sure. The tackling was absolutely bonkers going from what was in the papers, so there was no wonder there was so many frees given. The Panthers' kicking improved some in the third quarter, so much so that they drew the gap back to seven points by three quarter-time, scoring 3.3 to the Bloods' 1.1. But South's grip on the fifth spot would by the end of today, be put in some real jeopardy. The Bloods finished the stronger, albeit inaccurate in the end, scoring 3.4 to 1.2 to secure a 21-point win. 

Josh Schiller was named best for the Bloods, South would vote in Joseph Haines as their best afield.