Australian Football

Match Report

A long off-season awaits us in a week's time. Its a hell of a long time for most, but only one team and its supporters will endure it the best. This past weekend decided the other half of the premiership playoff equation for this Sunday's Grand Final and who would be facing the current premiers, Central District. Will we see a 2002 re-match, or would the Bulldogs be entering unchartered territory against a completely new opponent?

The Preliminary Final... its the last chance for a club for their tilt at the premiership, this year it would be contested between the Tigers and the Double Blues. Glenelg and its supporters would have been filthy at the way they were defeated last week, they were being groomed as the new pacesetter to challenge the Bulldogs this year and then all of a sudden they were being handed a five goal loss and one claw's grip loosened from the Grand Final. The Double Blues however, belted the holy hell out of the Redlegs last week, but since their 2002 premiership victory they have not made it this far since 2004. Almost 14,000 turned up at the Adelaide Oval for this one, not a bad turnout since the first week of finals -- which had two league level matches -- drew in almost 16,000. One vital cog in Sturt's machine, Greg Bentley, was ruled out before hand. Glenelg wasn't without some bumps and bruises either after their encounter with the 'Dogs.

The game started off rather even, the Tigers up by a goal at quarter-time after kicking 4.4 to 3.4. That one goal, however, would have been an instant talking point among Blues fans at the change because during a bit of argy-bargy in the Glenelg attacking zone, they realised their back-men were outnumbered by almost three to one! The Tigers made them suffer after that, booting home an inaccurate 6.6 to Sturt's one goal to put the gap out to seven goals by the long break. With Brant Chambers and Co. failing to fire, the Tigers went on their merry way to put the Grand Final beyond the Double Blues' reach for another year. A further 3.2 to 2.1 in the third quarter extending the gap to 49 points by the final change. The damage was done, the Tigers had a premiership shot in the bag, but still added an extra 4.5 to two goals in the last quarter to win by 11 goals and sending a loud message to the Bulldogs... underestimate them if you dare. 

Trevor Cranston was named best for the Tigers, whilst Michael Coad was the Blues' biggest standout.