Australian Football

Match Report

We start things off with the cut-throat Elimination Final, where the Panthers faced the Roosters. The Panthers finished the regular season with plenty of promise after defeating two of the top three sides over as many weeks, their final round upset win against the Redlegs putting them in fourth position above the Roosters who finished the minor round with a four-point win against Port. Their most recent clash in the finals goes all the way back to 2006 in a 1st Semi-Final where the Roosters won by 25 points. In the Elimination Final, the Panthers have played made eight appearances for five wins while the Roosters have played in nine games with seven wins. South's last eliminator was in 2014 when they defeated the Eagles by 20 points, the Roosters last played one in 2013 when they smashed the Bulldogs by 62 points. Their two encounters this season both resulted in South emerging victorious, the first in Round 7 by 27 points and then again in Round 15 by 41 points, so all the evidence seemed indicate that the Panthers were the clear favourites to win and advance to a 1st Semi.

The first quarter seemed to reflect that, although both sides had some problems finding the goals and the Roosters attempting to get overly physical. South would lead by two goals at quarter-time, scoring 3.3 to 1.3. However the Roosters physical approach in the second term started to reap rewards, their pressure on the body and ball was upped a notch and by half-time they would have the lead. They restricted the Panthers to just 1.2 and scored 6.1 for themselves to take a 17-point lead into the change rooms at the long break. South returned to the fray with the adequate response, putting themselves back into the lead by the final change. A few missed shots on goal allowed North to stay within three straight kicks at three quarter-time, the Panthers scoring 5.4 to 1.2 to lead by 13 points. But in the final stanza, the Panthers couldn't keep up that intensity as the Roosters scored six goals without a miss and kept South to just 1.1 to run out 20-point winners, not the finish that the South faithful had in mind, going by their final furlong in the H&A season. The Roosters would name Tanner Smith as their best afield, the Panthers voted Keegan Brooksby as their best.