Australian Football

Match Report

In the final match of the weekend, its off to the southern suburb of Noarlunga where the Panthers took on the Bulldogs at Hickinbotham Oval. Centrals had a rude awakening last weekend as they dropped their bundle at the Ponderosa, the Bloods embarrassing the Dogs in front of an average crowd. But no matter what the Dogs have had to put up with for the last few years, the longest trip in SANFL football has held very few problems for the men of Elizabeth. From the last 13 games, the Dogs have dropped just two and their last encounter was a 44-point win at the Dog-pound in Round 4.

But this time the Panthers were in a fighting mood, opening proceedings with a 3.2 to 2.1 first quarter to lead by seven points at quarter-time. The Dogs would then score seven goals without a miss to South's 4.2 in the second term to take a nine-point lead at the long break. But had the Bulldogs' defence been fully functioning, the Panthers' attack would have been far less fruitful so they were lucky just to be ahead at this time. When play resumed, the Panthers remained persistent. They would cut the deficit back to seven points by the final change, in the third term South kicked 3.3 to the Dogs' 3.1. Unfortunately for the home faithful, the Bulldogs saved their best until last. With the Panther's nagging nullified, the Dogs went and pantsed the home side with an 11-to-4 goal final term blitz. In the end the Bulldogs took a 49-point win, Justin Hardy's seven goals putting him in serious contention for Ken Farmer Medal honours.

Despite that though, it was Trent Goodrem bagging best afield honours for the Dogs, while South named Nick Murphy as their best.