Australian Football

Match Report

The South Australian National Football League has its premiership decider, but while Central District had a week off to get themselves ready to face the might of their opponents, two other teams battled it out to decide who would face the Bulldog army. Adelaide Oval was fully loaded with SA footy heads as the Eagles and Westies took to the field, and the stakes could not get any higher except that of a Grand Final spot. The Bloods, without a GF appearance for 12 years and the Eagles leaving the finals in 2000 and 2001 little more than a bridesmaid or less.

The Bloods showed plenty of ruthless aggresion early, leaving the Eagles with a mere two behinds to 4.2 at the end of the first quarter. Their campaign was not helped to any degree with Shirley being stretchered off in that term with a knee ligament strain. However, the Eagles were agle to claw back in the second half to equalise the match at 48 points a piece.

The second half saw the Bloods take a stranglehold on the match, the Eagles having their teamwork neutralised completely with West's customary style of 'no-frills' footy, although their shots on goal didn't always score the maximum dividend. It didn't matter in the end, the Bloods had the game wrapped up and had booked a place in the Grand Final with their 30 point win. Back to the drawing board once more for the Eagles.