Australian Football

Match Report

In the first of the three Saturday afternoon matches, we head down south to the Hickinbotham Oval at Noarlunga for the contest between the Panthers and the Bloods. The blue and whites copped it sweet the last time they took on Westies, they left Richmond with a 76-point smashing which was their fifth loss in a row at the Wolf's Den. Staring down the barrel of a gun with their season on the line, a South win would see the hammer locked in firing position.

The Panthers started off best, starting the afternoon's proceedings with a 4.2 to 3.2 first term to lead by a goal at the first change. But the desperate Bloods reeled the Panthers back in to overtake the lead with a 3.3 to two goal second quarter to be up by three points at the long break. Souths have been stretching their luck for weeks, but today their luck was about to run out. Even with some heavy inaccuracy, the Bloods kicked 6.7 to the Panthers' paltry 1.2 to take the gap out to 38 points at three quarter-time. That quarter would prove to be the match-winner for the Bloods, holding off the Panthers' last term attempt at an upset to take a 42-point win after finishing the match with a 4.5 to 4.1 final term.

For the second week in a row, Ben Fisher stood up for West to take out best afield honours for the red & blacks, while South named Nick Liddle as their standout.