Australian Football

Match Report

We return to the home of South Australian football at West Lakes, back to AAMI Stadium for the First Semi-Final... a northern derby between the Bulldogs and the Roosters. For all concerned at the Dog-pound, this is uncharted territory. This sudden-death contest has been something they haven't had to deal with during their most dominant period, their last appearance in this match was against North in 1997 where they eliminated the Roosters with a 19-point win. Their first appearance in this match was actually their first foray into the finals, the 1971 season saw the Dogs bring Sturt's premiership defence crashing down with a 27-point win, one of four winning first semis out of seven. The Roosters have played in 19 of these games, with nine wins and one draw. History shows some controversy in one particular North Adelaide loss, in the post World War II era the Roosters went down to West Torrens by a goal, that defeat made possible by an Eagles goal kicked after the siren. The explanation? The umpire didn't hear the damn thing! North hold the record score in first semi, booting the Panthers out of the 1990 series after a 56-point win with a tally of 23.14. The Redlegs have made the most appearances in this final, with 35 games played for 15 wins and one draw. Like the Redlegs of 1984, North have once won the flag from here in 1931. Only Sturt (1932 & 1976), Port (1959 & 1998), West Torrens (1945) and last year's Eagles have done likewise.

On recent encounters between these two, the Bulldogs just managed to escape Prospect with a one-goal victory in Round 9. But when the Roosters landed at the Ponderosa two weeks ago, they shocked the Dogs faithful with a 16-point win. In the last 10 matches, the Roosters have taken three victories. It was five years ago that the Bulldogs took the premiership at the expense of the Roosters and after ruining the Gowans party at Elizabeth, they were out for seconds. They opened proceedings in punishing fashion, taking a 19-point lead at quarter time after kicking 6.2 to 3.1 in the first term. But the destruction was only getting started as they choked up Centrals' scoring zone and restricted them to a lousy three behinds despite having the wind on their backs, all while adding a further 5.3 for themselves. At the half-time break, the Roosters were ahead by 49 points. Nothing was falling the Bulldogs way from here, the defensive pressure from North and their tall timber blocking the avenues to goal giving coach Roy Laird serious headaches. Anger and poor discipline was the story of the day for Centrals, coughing up several free kicks as well as some over-zealous penalty calls from the umpires driving the Dogs fans crazy. North continued on their merry way when play resumed and by this time everyone knew the era was finished. In the third term, the Roosters bagged a further 6.4 to 3.1 to stretch the gap out to 70 points by three quarter-time. It wasn't the end that the Dogs had envisioned, another dominant North quarter saw them score 5.3 to 1.3 to finish the match off as the Roosters booked their Week 3 spot with an 88-point win.

Mitchell Clisby was named best for North, while Trent Goodrem was named best for Central.

This would be the final appearance of the much applauded and much despised duo of Chris and James Gowans - nine premierships, Jack Oatey Medals, state games, 491 matches between them. Hated, loved, respected... thanks for the memories.