Australian Football

Match Report

In the last Saturday afternoon match-up for the Round 8 weekend, we head down south as the opposite ends of the SA football landscape met at Hickinbotham Oval, the Panthers facing the Bulldogs. Its the longest trip in the SANFL, the far north against the far south, but the home side is on the wrong end of a long and painful hoodoo. In a league record, the Bulldogs' 16-straight victories against the Panthers has seen gaps between 16 and 79 points, the last Bulldogs win was to the tune of 49 points at Noarlunga where they took 23 goals from 25 scores. But the Dogs have been shaky lately, made very evident by their efforts against Sturt last week.

Centrals first term efforts were hampered by poor shooting on goal, they scored 3.4 to South's 1.1 to lead by 15 points at quarter-time. In a near-repeat of last weekend, they almost coughed up the lead as their inaccuracy continued into the second term as the Panthers brought the gap back to a couple of kicks before the long break. The Panthers scored 3.2 to 2.5, the Dogs up by two goals at half-time. When play resumed, a couple of goals in the first few minutes saw South take the lead, but this woke the Dogs from their nap just as the Panthers started to spray their ensuing shots wide. By three quarter-time, the visitors had a 21-point advantage after kicking 5.2 to 3.5. The inaccuracy bug shifted camps for the final quarter, the Dogs firing wide several times as they kept the Panthers at arms length. Centrals added 3.6 to South's 3.2 to take their third successive win for the year, leaving Noarlunga 25-point victors.

Kyle Jenner was the real pain in South's rear and was named best for the Dogs, while the Panthers voted in Kyle Hartigan as their best on ground.