Australian Football

Round 3

Premiership season 2008 - Round 3 Review

Total Crowd 13,338 (Avg 3,335)

SA state league fanatics... give yourself a pat on the back. SA footy-heads again turned out in force for the four SANFL matches, with almost 13,500 rocking up at the turnstiles this past weekend. This is hoped to carry on next weekend with more Friday night mayhem and a top of the table clash on Saturday. The overall attendance so far is almost 45,000 within the first three rounds... pretty good, eh?

Welcome to the Round 3 edition of the SANFL Wrap-Up.

First its off to the Woodville Oval, as the ABC cameras focussed in on the clash between the Eagles and the Magpies. Both teams were sitting on two losses a piece and something had to give way. The first quarter was a goal fest. The Eagles bagging the first three goals of the match, but the Magpies established a five point lead at quarter time after kicking 6.2 to the Eagles' 5.3. In the second term however, the Magpies found their faster legs as they added a further 6.5 whilst keeping the Eagles to a lowly 1.2, giving the visitors a 38 point lead at the long break. Despite the Eagles outscoring the 'Pies in the third quarter -- 4.2 to 3.2, the Pies still held a lead of 32 points going into the final quarter. In the end, the Eagles were left in the dust and with a 0-3 record for the season so far. A 4.2 to 2.3 final term saw Port home with their first win of the season, a 43 point one. Danny Hargraves had a shocker last week, but 10 goals to his name turned it all around this week. He was named best afield for Port, while Mark McKenzie was voted best for the Eagles.

Down south at the Hickinbotham Oval, the Panthers had an opportunity to continue its dream start to the 2008 season when the Bloods came down to play. But that dream almost evaporated after Westies kept the Panthers goalless in the first quarter, taking out a 31 point lead at quarter time after kicking 5.3 to South's two measly behinds. However, slowly but surely the Panthers would work their way into the contest. The long road started in the second term, as the home side kicked 3.4 to 2.1 to close the gap to 22 points at the long break. The Panther charge slowed down just a little in the third quarter, but South kept the visitors to just 1.3 while adding 2.1 to their score to flatten the margin to three goals. With just minutes left, Jack Cahill took a gamble which ultimately broke the hearts of the long suffering West Adelaide supporters. He brought on youngster Leigh Ryan, who pulled off some aerial magic and then the last minute goal that handed the Panthers a four point victory. James Boyd was named best for South, while Damian Cupido was voted best afield for West.

The Double Blues machine arrived at the doorstep of the Roosters at Prospect Oval, with two massive wins behind them the Blues were expected to reign destruction. It didn't happen right away, but Sturt did take out the quarter time lead. They kicked 4.5 to 3.2 to be in front by nine points. Then the reaping began. The Blues sunk home 7.5 to North's 2.1 in the second quarter to stretch the gap out to 43 points. During this period the Roosters struggled badly to break into their 50 metre arc, the largest gap between entries was around eight minutes. The Roosters would never recover from here, the closest they would get would be 29 points part way into the third term. The deficit was 46 points at the end of the third quarter. The Blues just did as they pleased, they exhausted the Roosters already. They added another 3.3 to the Roosters' 1.1 to win by 10 goals in front of just over 4,000 people. Luke Crane was named best afield for Sturt, while North named Chris Ladhams as their best afield. After the match, North's coaching staff and leadership group would be taken aside by head coach Andrew Jarman... definitely some words exchanged.

In the last match of the round, the Redlegs took the long trip to the Hamra Homes Oval in Elizabeth to face one of their biggest demons in the Bulldogs. Last years meetings saw the Redlegs lose by over 200 points and the Doggies, stung by a seven goal loss last week, weren't about to play nice. They started off proceedings by taking a 15 point lead at quarter-time, after kicking 4.4 to Norwood's 2.1. Things were very much equal in the second term as Norwood made a nuisance of themselves to the Dogs, the deficit unchanged at the half-time break with both sides kicking 3.3 a piece. But then the Dogs kicked it up a notch, after Norwood scored a goal in the opening minutes the reigning premiers shut the door on the visitors for good as that goal would be the 'Legs last. The gap was extended to 30 points after the Dogs kicked 4.5 to 1.2 in the third term, but the home side wasn't finished. A further 6.1 to Norwood's two behinds in the last quarter saw them romp home by 71 points. Ian Callinan's five goals and 20 possessions saw him voted best for Centrals, Norwood voted in Paul Puopolo as their best man.


FINAL SCORES IN ROUND 3 OF THE SANFL...

Saturday April 12
Port Adelaide 19.11 (125)
Woodville-West Torrens 12.10 (82)
2,539 @ Woodville Oval

South Adelaide 9.11 (65)
West Adelaide 9.7 (61)
2,400 @ Hickinbotham Oval, Noarlunga

Sturt 17.14 (114)
North Adelaide 8.8 (56)
4,030 @ Prospect Oval

Central District 17.13 (115)
Norwood 6.8 (44)
4,369 @ Hamra Homes Oval, Elizabeth -- night match

Glenelg had the bye.


INJURIES
Port -- Krakouer (leg)
W-WT -- Schwarze (concussion)
North -- Coulter (thumb)
Central -- Schell (shoulder)

REPORTS
Port -- J. Clayton (striking)
W-WT -- Schwarze (rough conduct), Fairclough (forceful contact)


Next week in Round 4...

Friday April 19
Norwood vs. Woodville-West Torrens; Coopers Stadium, Norwood -- night match

Saturday April 20
South Adelaide vs. Sturt; Hickinbotham Oval, Noarlunga

Sunday April 21
Glenelg vs. West Adelaide; Challenge Recruitment Oval, Glenelg
Port Adelaide vs. North Adelaide; Alberton Oval

Central District have the bye.

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

R-3, Ladder