Australian Football

Match Report

The other four fixtures were played out on Saturday, the first takes us to the Flinders Uni Stadium in Noarlunga where the Panthers faced the Bloods. Despite the Panthers finishing in fifth last season, they couldn't put one past the Bloods over their two games in 2018. Westies nicked the points in their encounter at Richmond in Round 5 with their two-point win, then followed that up with a 21-point win at Noarlunga in Round 13. South's fortunes have taken a slight dive as of late, after their two drawn games they lost to Sturt by 22 points last week, while the Bloods were toppled by the Tigers at home. 

The Bloods opened proceedings with a trio of goals within six minutes, the Panthers kicked 2.2 before West added a fourth late in the term to lead by 10 points at quarter-time. The second term was a near-shootout, the Bloods would still be in front by first half's end after scoring 3.3 to 3.2. At the long break, the visitors held an 11-point lead. By this time, the Panthers had lost two key players to injury. However, this was not to be a problem for them. The scores would be locked up at 9.7 each by the final change, the Panthers scoring 4.3 to the Bloods' 2.4 in the third term to tie up the game. Again it was a case of three quarters of football, not good enough as South overran West in the last quarter, kicking 6.4 to 1.2 to win by 32 points. 

Michael Knoll was named best for the Panthers, the Bloods voted in Will Snelling as their best.