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Premiership season 2009 - Round 21 Review

Total Crowd 12,813 (Avg 3,203)

Some wise programming by the honchos at SANFL headquarters saw some relatively good crowd figures for Round 21, even for one game which would have been considered as a low-level drawcard match and maybe some much needed loose change for the Heart Foundation. This past weekend may have seen finals football slip from the grasp of one team that for the past few weeks had made a last-ditch serious play for participation in September. We'll get to that later.


Welcome to the Round 22 edition of the SANFL Wrap-Up.

First its off to Coopers Stadium on The Parade for some Friday night mayhem between neighbouring teams Norwood and North Adelaide. The Roosters have had a nightmare past four weeks, with losses to the four teams above them on the ladder. Norwood's season is pretty much done and dusted, with only pride left to play for. The Roosters would find themselves a goal up at quarter-time after kicking 4.2 to 3.2 in the opening term, the second quarter saw them place more emphasis on putting plenty of pressure on the Redlegs as they added an inaccurate 3.5 to the Redlegs' 1.1. At half-time, the Roosters had a 22-point lead. But the Roosters came back from the break with a different game-plan, which resulted in them booting 8.2 to the Redlegs' miserable 1.4 to blast the gap out to 62 points going into the final term. Finally the North faithful saw real signs of a true finals contender. Both sides kicked 3.3 in the last quarter, the final margin staying at 62 points to see North keep their fifth position on the league ladder. James Allan was voted best for the Roosters, while Keiran McGuinness was voted best for Norwood.

The next day, only the most loyal fans turned up to the Hamra Homes Oval in Elizabeth for the encounter between the Bulldogs and the Panthers in the only Saturday fixture. Thanks to the AFL, the Crows had some impact on the crowd number here. The Bulldogs' last match against the southerners almost saw an upset as the Panthers took it right up to the reigning premiers. It looked as if it was happening again as the Dogs found it hard going early on, the home side up by just seven points at quarter-time after kicking 4.2 to South's 3.1. But the Dogs weren't going to allow an upset on their turf and went on to fire home 7.1 to South's 2.2 in the second quarter to set a five-goal deficit at the long break. Upon resumption of play the Dogs went back to work, stretching the gap to 58 points after bagging a further 7.4 to South's four goals. Centrals finished the job off with a 5.4 to 2.1 final term to take out a 79-point win. Ian Callinan was voted best on field in his 51st match in Bulldogs colours, while Josh Thewlis was named best for South.

The next day at Woodville Oval, the Eagles geared up for a fight with the Bloods. The result from Friday night at Norwood would have sent shockwaves through the Westies camp, that result putting their finals chances in jeopardy with only two rounds of regular season football remaining. The Eagles don't have too much to worry about except finals football itself. The Eagles started off best, they kicked 5.6 to West's 2.1 in a first quarter where the visitors failed to capitalise on a strong breeze. It was a 23-point deficit at quarter-time. The Bloods however, stormed back into the contest after kicking 5.5 to the Eagles' 1.2 to take over the lead by four points at half-time. But their old habits came back to bite them in the backside, as the Eagles came back from the break to kick 6.3 in the third quarter, the Bloods only managing one solitary behind. Going into the last quarter the Eagles were up by 34 points. The Bloods didn't give up, but with several shots on goal going wide or hitting the woodwork the Eagles were able to leave with the points. The home side kicked 3.6 to the visitors' 3.4, the fourth placed Eagles winning by six goals. Justin Cicolella was named best for the Eagles, while Patrick Dangerfield was given best on ground honours for West. This loss, along with North's victory on Friday, places serious doubts on the Bloods playing finals footy.

In the final match for Round 21, we found out just how flexible the ABC can be when faced with a blockbuster match being on a Sunday as their cameras headed to House Brothers Oval in Unley for the match between Sturt and Glenelg. These two had one of the best matches of 2008 when almost 12,000 turned up at the Bay as the Tigers nicked a victory from the jaws of defeat. Just over 5,300 fronted up as Sturt took a four-point lead at quarter-time, after kicking 2.1 to the Tigers' 1.3. Goals were slightly more plentiful in the second quarter as the Blues extended their advantage to nine points at the half-time break after adding a further 3.2 to 2.3. But Glenelg weren't about to surrender their grip on the minor premiership so easily. They came back from the break with their goal kicking boots well and truly tied on, in the windy conditions they still managed to score 5.5 to the Blues' lousy single behind to take a 25 point lead at the end of the third quarter. The home side did outscore the Tigers in the final quarter but nowhere near enough needed to avoid defeat. They kicked two goals to the visitors' 1.5, the Tigers re-taking top spot on the league ladder from the Dogs with a four-goal win. Ben Mules was named best for Glenelg, while Michael Coad was voted best for Sturt.

FINAL SCORES IN ROUND 21 OF THE SANFL

Friday August 21
North Adelaide 18.12 (120)
Norwood 8.10 (58)
3,089 @ Coopers Stadium, Norwood - night match

Saturday August 22
Central District 23.11 (149)
South Adelaide 11.4 (70)
2,043 @ Hamra Homes Oval, Elizabeth

Sunday August 23
Woodville-West Torrens 15.17 (107)
West Adelaide 10.11 (71)
2,359 @ Woodville Oval

Glenelg 9.16 (70)
Sturt 7.4 (46)
5,322 @ House Brothers Oval, Unley

Port Adelaide had the bye.


INJURIES
Glenelg -- Fisher (dislocated finger)

REPORTS
None known at time of post.


LEAGUE LADDER
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Glenelg -- 31pts (15-2-1), 55%
Central -- 29pts (14-3-1), 54.8%
Sturt -- 26pts (13-5-0), 60%
W-WT -- 23pts (11-7-1), 50.1%
North -- 18pts (9-9-0), 52.1%

---------------------------------
West -- 15pts (7-10-1), 45.7%
Norwood -- 12pts (6-13-0), 48.5%
Port -- 8pts (4-14-0), 45.5%
South -- 2pts (1-17-0), 37.6%
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Next weekend in Round 22 of the SANFL...

Saturday August 29
West Adelaide vs. North Adelaide; City Mazda Stadium, Richmond
Central District vs. Sturt; Hamra Homes Oval, Elizabeth - night match

Sunday August 30
South Adelaide vs. Port Adelaide; Hickinbotham Oval, Noarlunga
Glenelg vs. Woodville-West Torrens; Gliderol Stadium, Glenelg

Norwood have the bye.


ATTENTION BULLDOGS FANS
The Central District Football Club is holding a 50th Year Family Day on Sunday August 30 on Hamra Homes Oval from 11am to 2pm with past and present players to be in attendance.

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

R-21, Ladder

Team GP PTS %
GLEN 18 31 55.06
CENT 18 29 56.31
STURT 18 26 60.07
W-WT 19 23 50.18
NORTH 18 18 52.07
WEST 18 15 45.16
NORW 19 12 48.55
PORT 18 8 45.52
SOUTH 18 2 37.59

Footnotes

* Behinds calculated from the 1965 season on.
+ Score at the end of extra time.