Australian Football

Match Report

Saturday took us down to the outer southern suburbs, the longest trip in SANFL football finding the Panthers facing the Bulldogs at the Hickinbotham Oval in Noarlunga. The Panthers exacted some sweet revenge on the Bulldogs in their last encounter with a 31-point victory at Elizabeth, a resounding back-hander that was probably due after their last match at Noarlunga which saw the Dogs nick fifth just in time for last year's finals. The Doggies' on-and-off form has brought them to the brink of a similar situation that South had around this time last season, while the Panthers have had some hiccups of their own but not as much as the Dogs who went down to Sturt, the Panthers coming off a bye after being surprised by the Tigers.

The opening quarter was a goal-fest with both sides kicking 5.2 each to begin proceedings, but the Dogs couldn't keep it up in the second quarter where they managed just three behinds to the Panthers' 3.1. At the long break, South were holding a 16-point lead. The Dogs stirred back to life in the third quarter, but inaccuracy on goal would stop them from taking over the lead by the final change. Centrals scored 4.4 to 3.1 to reduce the gap to seven points at three quarter-time. But there seemed to be nothing left in the tank for the Dogs, the Panthers scoring 4.2 to two goals in the final quarter to win by 21 points and taking a rare clean sweep of regular season victories over Centrals.

Brede Seccull was named best for the Panthers, the Bulldogs naked Nick Holman as their best afield.