Australian Football

Match Report

The Preliminary Final was only able to draw a little over 8,300 to the home of SA football, in the last chance for a shot at premiership glory it came down to the Eagles and Norwood. These two sides aren't strangers to each other when it comes to finals, in fact it was the Eagles who took out their first premiership as a merged club when they defeated the Redlegs in the 1993 decider. This year, the Redlegs took a 2-1 record over the Eagles for Season 2010 with wins at Oval Avenue and The Parade in Rounds 10 and 16 respectively. This time around the Eagles were hot favourites due to their finals form which saw them rise from the Elimination Final with wins against Sturt and Glenelg.

The Eagles would start off best with a 2.3 to 1.3 first quarter, taking a one-goal lead at the first break. They would then dominate the second quarter, but poor shots on goal would see the Eagles up at the long break by just under five goals instead of a possible nine-goal blow-out. The Eagles could almost smell a shot at the Bulldogs, but any over-confidence at this point would prove to be their undoing.

When play resumed, the Eagles would score the first goal to extend the gap to 35 points, but the Redlegs rallied and ran hard against an Eagles unit that seemed to have used a good deal of their fuel too quickly. By the final change, the gap was brought back to 10 points and suddenly the Redlegs were back in frame for the Grand Final. By the final term, the Eagles were spent and Norwood made their move. The Redlegs kept the Eagles scoreless and took 2.3 for themselves, stealing victory from the jaws of defeat by five points and booking the second berth in next week's premiership decider.

Paul Puopolo was named best for the 'Legs, while the Eagles named Mark McKenzie as their best afield. In a battle of rookie coaches, Eagles coach Michael Godden was a picture of despair, while Norwood coach Nathan Bassett was no doubt thinking gameplans in his inevitable clash with six-time Bulldogs premiership coach Roy Laird who was watching on that afternoon.

INJURIES W-WT - Welsh (calf), Grocke (hand)