Australian Football

Match Report

The next game on the roll sends us way down to the outer southern suburbs and to the Flinders University Stadium in Noarlunga for the "Clash of the Cats" between the Panthers and the Tigers. These sides had just the two encounters in Season 2022, during which the points would be shared with the Tigers winning Round 7 by 34 points at Brighton Road, then the Panthers would emerge victorious in the return match by 45 points at Noarlunga in Round 14. Slow starts marred the away side on both occasions, in the opening terms only the home side managed goals. In the match at Noarlunga however, the Tigers didn't score a goal until the second half, until then they had just six behinds on the board and eventually would have half the scoring shots that South would amass. The Panthers fell to a second-straight defeat last week with a horror outing against Adelaide, while the Tigers continued the Redlegs shocking start to their season. The Panthers had the better of the opening quarter, keeping the Tigers to just one behind. But scoring just 2.2 over 12 minutes would be overcome by the Bays in just seven minutes. A trio of behinds put things right back to square one for the Panthers, though one final goal put them back in front by a point at quarter-time. Glenelg would themselves own the majority of the second term, only allowing the Panthers to score two goals. The inaccuracy bug had paid a visit to their camp though, the Tigers scoring 4.5 to lead by just 16 points at the long break. The Panthers were unable to take full advantage of the trademark Noarlunga winds in the third quarter, fluffing an absolute swag of chances. Though they did keep the Tigers pretty much quiet at the other end, allowing just one behind. South's 1.6 brought the gap back down to five points going into the final change. But where the Panthers failed in that term, the Tigers would not in the final stanza. They used the wind to absolute perfection, leaving the Panthers in their wake to bag 6.1 to South's lowly single behind. The Tigers would run out 41-point winners and secure the Carey-Darley Trophy in the process. Matt Allen was named Glenelg's best, with 19 disposals, eight marks and kicking two goals. Mitch O'Neill was South's best with 24 disposals, seven clearances and six tackles.