Australian Football

Round 12

Premiership season 2008 - Round 12 Review

Total Crowd 9,166 (Avg 2,292)

Is there a new pecking order coming in the SANFL? For the last decade, all anyone has been able to talk about is the Bulldogs and their near decade of dominance. Now there could be a change on the way, with the Double Blues and the Tigers heading the table. But are the reigning premiers just playing everyone for fools, or has their time truly ran out? We'll see over the next few weeks, as we have reached the midway point of the season.

What happened in Round 12 of the SANFL, is in this week's edition of the Wrap-Up.

First we will head over to the Hamra Homes Oval in Elizabeth, where the Bulldogs played host to the rampaging Tigers in the ABC TV match. And rampaging is exactly what they did from the beginning, rushing off to a 39 point lead at quarter time after kicking 7.5 to the Dogs lousy 1.2 in the first term. The lead was reduced somewhat in the second term, it could have been a far closer margin had the Dogs had more luck in goal, they booted 2.4 to Glenelg's two goals. At the half-time break, the Tigers were still in the lead by 35 points. The visitors didn't let the Dogs get too much closer in the third quarter, the home side continued to cop the wrath of the umpires in the free kick department, the count was 26-9 by three-quarter time! The lead was stretched back out to 47 points by the final change, the Tigers inaccuracy left the door slightly ajar after they kicked 4.7 to 3.1 in the third quarter. The Dogs booted open the door in the final term when they made one last desperate run at the Tigers. The free kicks for Glenelg flowed again here, the final count was 32-16 in their favour. But despite the Doggies' 6.3 tally, they couldn't catch up to the Tigers, who kicked 2.1 to post a 21 point victory and bringing to an end a 16-year drought at Elizabeth. Ty Allen was voted best for Glenelg, while the Dogs voted in Chad O'Sullivan as their best afield. Notably, Bulldog coach Roy Laird held his players long after the final whistle to put his men on the spot.

But the Tigers still had to wait on another game to find out whether or not top spot was theirs, so now we head over to that game at Woodville Oval where the Eagles met up with the Double Blues. The last time these two met up, it was the Eagles that came up best, winning by 35 points. The Blues had revenge on their minds, but their boots were not playing along in the first term. It didn't matter too much as the Blues ran off to a 23 point lead, kicking 4.8 to the Eagles' 1.3 by quarter time. The inaccuracy bug stayed with that side of the ground, this time affecting the Eagles' goal-kicking. They put through 3.5 while the Blues scored 4.3 to put the lead out a little bit to 27 points going into the half time break. The Eagles were pretty much silenced in the third quarter, allowing Sturt to break the game apart. They had a flawless term in goal, kicking eight goals without a miss to the Eagles unbelievably poor two points. At three quarter-time, the gap was 73 points! The game already over, the Blues just took it easy and still extended their lead. In the final quarter, they scored 3.4 to the Eagles' 2.2 to put the final margin at 81 points. The Blues again put Luke Crane's name up in lights as their best afield, while Ken McGregor was the only real shining light for the Eagles' dismal afternoon.

In the last match for Saturday afternoon, it was a 'civil war' of sorts at Prospect Oval, when the Roosters and the Panthers met up -- North and South. It was an afternoon that would live in many football traditionalists minds, the day where North coach Andrew Jarman went against everything he believed in in order to take control of the match, that being flooding. The Roosters took a 14 point lead at quarter time after kicking 4.2 to South's two goals in the first quarter, then followed it up to extend the gap to 22 points by the long break. The Roosters flooding tactics would really pay dividends in the third quarter, everytime the visitors went into attack, there would be a farm's worth of Roosters waiting. North booted 6.8 here, whilst keeping South to just 1.1 to lead by 53 points at the final change. The damage was done, South's outscoring of the home side in the last quarter meant nothing in the end and they went down by 47 points. Fos Williams Medallist Clint Alleway was voted best for North, while the Panthers voted Andy Otten as their best player.

The next day in the last match of Round 12, it was the battle of the cellar dwellers as the Magpies faced the Bloods at the Broadspectrum Oval in Richmond. Being one spot away from the bottom is not something that the Port faithful are used to and their counterparts in the AFL aren't doing too much better. It was left up to their SANFL brethren to bring a little light into Alberton and they made a good start to make that happen, kicking 6.2 to 3.4 in the first term to lead by 16 points at quarter-time. The visitors managed to stretch it out to 20 points by the long break, they kicked 3.4 to West's three goals to close the first half. The whole day was riddled with poor skills on both sides... stuffing up marks, multiple turnovers and other associated skill errors. It continued into the second half, the third quarter was dull in the way of scoring. The Magpies kicked 1.4 to West's single goal and the lead was out to four straight goals at three quarter-time. The Magpies finished the job with a 3.5 to West's lousy 1.5 in the final quarter to win by 36 points. Port voted in Daniel Elstone as their best performer, while the Bloods named Damian Cupido as their best man.

FINAL SCORES IN ROUND 12 OF THE SANFL

Saturday June 21
Glenelg 15.13 (103)
Central District 12.10 (82)
3,114 @ Hamra Homes Oval, Elizabeth

Sturt 19.15 (129)
Woodville-West Torrens 6.12 (48)
2,296 @ Woodville Oval

North Adelaide 15.11 (101)
South Adelaide 8.6 (54)
1,560 @ Prospect Oval

Sunday June 22
Port Adelaide 13.15 (93)
West Adelaide 8.9 (57)
2,196 @ Broadspectrum Oval, Richmond

Norwood had the bye.


INJURIES
Sturt -- Feast (ankle), Gregory (knee), Nelson (leg).
North -- Allan (achilles).
South -- Neagles (hamstring).
West -- Hassan (knee).

REPORTS
Central -- Thomas (striking).


Next weekend in Round 13...

Saturday June 28
Woodville-West Torrens vs. Central District; Woodville Oval
Norwood vs. West Adelaide; Coopers Stadium, Norwood
Port Adelaide vs. North Adelaide; Alberton Oval
Glenelg vs. Sturt; Challenge Recruitment Oval, Glenelg

South Adelaide have the bye.

So until next weekend... see you at the Footy!

R-12, Ladder