Australian Football

Match Report

With all the hoo-haa of the Crows' finals loss all done, the action continued into Sunday afternoon as the cats of the SANFL jungle butted heads at Gliderol Stadium, the Tigers facing the Panthers. The Tigers won the last encounter against their southern rival, a Round 14 win at Noarlunga by three points coming after a hat-trick of losses to the blue & whites. This match was a must win for both teams, the Tigers to tighten their grip on fifth spot on the ladder and the Panthers to avoid the wooden spoon after Sturt's upset against Port on Saturday. This match was going to be an arm-wrestle with neither side giving the other too much breathing space on the board.

The Tigers would be ahead on the scoreboard at quarter-time by the narrowest of margins, they kicked 3.3 to 3.2 to take a one-point lead at the first change. They would extend that gap to eight points come half-time, the Bays adding a further 4.4 to South's 3.3 in the second quarter. The Panthers were starting to run low on manpower as key personnel started going down with injury, but they still kept well in touch after the long break. South would cut a single point off the Tigers' lead by the three quarter-time siren, they kicked 4.1 to Glenelg's four goals to bring the deficit back to seven points. Glenelg should have gone on to seal this one, but despite their non-existent interchange bench and 17 men on the field, the Panthers smashed home 8.1 to the Tigers' 4.1 to take out a 17-point victory and hand Sturt the wooden spoon.

Joel Cross was voted best on ground for the Panthers, while the Tigers named Riley Milne as their best. South finished 2012 in eighth spot, two points ahead of the Blues.