Australian Football

Match Report

In the final game of the Rivalry Round, Woodville-West Torrens travelled north to the Hamra Homes Oval for some Saturday night action against the reigning premiers, Central District. This rivalry gathered steam in the last Grand Final of the 20th century when the "Y2K-9" bug hit the northern suburbs club -- in other words, some smart recruiting saw the Bulldogs rampage through season 2000 and run onto the turf of AAMI Stadium for its first ever SANFL premiership. This was the first in a long series of premiership wins for the Doggies, but most of these were against the Eagles. This stretch of losses included a record 125 point demolition in 2004, this being one of four premiership playoffs gone to waste. But the Eagles finally broke through the Bulldog hoodoo in 2006, winning their second title as a merged club since 1993 by inflicting a 76 point belting on Centrals.

An otherwise good crowd of over 3,500 people turned up to the Elizabeth-based ground, the Eagles starting off the goal count but not taking the lead at quarter-time. 

That went to the Dogs -- pardon the pun -- after they kicked 3.1 to the Eagles' 1.2 to set the gap at 11 points at the first change. The Eagles fared a lot better in the second quarter, taking a nine-point lead at the long break after booting through five goals without a miss while the Dogs struggled to find the big sticks and kicked 1.4. The home side came back after the break to reduce the margin to seven points after kicking 2.4 to the Eagles' 2.2 in the third quarter. But the final term was all Centrals, finally bringing the visitors back down to earth and giving 100 gamer Jason Mackenzie something to celebrate. The Dogs booted 6.3 to the Eagles' 2.3 to take out a 17 point victory. 

Paul Thomas came back from suspension to take best afield honours for Centrals, while Luke Powell was voted best afield for the Eagles.