Australian Football

Match Report

The first three games took place on the Saturday afternoon, the first taking us to the X-Convenience Oval in Elizabeth for the clash between the Bulldogs and the Eagles. The Bulldogs were unable to catch the Eagles last year, starting with a 27-point loss at Woodville in Round 2, then a 26-point loss at Elizabeth in the final home and away round. The Eagles have surprised everyone over the last two weeks, with consecutive wins against top fivers in Norwood and South putting them back on track. The same can't be said for Centrals, although showing fight it seems to be all too late as displayed at Unley last week. 

The Eagles would have 20 points on the board before the Dogs answered, the Eagles would lead by two points at quarter-time with the board reading 4.3 to 4.1. The Eagles would establish some breathing space between them by half-time, but probably should have led by more if not for a few missed shots. Their additional 4.4 to the Dogs' 2.3 had them ahead by 15 points at the break. While the Dogs did ask a fair amount of questions of the Eagles, they couldn't fully capitalise on their own patches of dominance. The gap was extended to 16 points by the final change, the visitors scoring 3.3 to 3.2 in the third term. Hard as they tried in the final term, the Dogs weren't going to catch the Eagles. They finished with a 4.2 to 2.2 closing term to win by 29 points. 

Jack Hayes kicked three goals and scored best afield votes for the Eagles, the Bulldogs named Jarrod Schiller as their best.