Australian Football

Finals, Week

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Premiership season 2009 - Finals, Week Review

Total Crowd 20,384 (Avg 10,192)

It's that time of year for SA footy-heads as we bid farewell to four teams for the year as the other five battle for the SANFL premiership and the Thomas Seymour-Hill trophy on offer in early October. With Glenelg taking out the minor premiership, it was left to the other four sides involved to stave off an early exit and a full-time return of finals football to AAMI Stadium while Adelaide Oval undergoes its makeover.

Welcome to this Week One Finals installment of the Wrap-Up.

First up it was the Elimination Final, where the fourth placed Eagles geared up for a feather-tearing encounter with the fifth-seeded Roosters. The Eagles place in finals football had been confirmed long before the Roosters were a sure-fire participant, late-bloomers West Adelaide unable to nick fifth spot on the ladder after North took the final three games of the minor rounds. The last match-up between the two sides was Round 17, where the Eagles outran the Roosters in the final quarter after being held scoreless in the third term at Woodville Oval. Before that, the Eagles had a much closer contest at Prospect where they escaped with an eight point victory. The Roosters would be without two key players -- 2009 state team members Damon White and Matthew Wright -- while the Eagles would remain pretty much unchanged and well rested after a Round 23 bye allowed them an extra week to prepare.

Inaccuracy on the Eagles part in the opening term stopped a bigger quarter-time gap from eventuating, six of their eight scoring shots resulting in behinds while North kicked 2.2. At the first change the Eagles held a four-point lead. The second quarter saw the Roosters bag seven goals without a miss while the Eagles managed 4.3 to see North take an 11-point lead at the half-time break. The Eagles by this time had lost the services of Justin Cicolella, who copped an eye injury in the first term which didn't help their cause up to now. When play resumed, the Eagles rallied back into the game as they slotted through 5.2 to the Roosters' lowly 1.2 to re-take the lead by three quarter-time, at the final change the gap would be 13 points. The Roosters would kick four goals on the trot to establish a 10-point lead on the cusp of time-on in the last quarter. But the Eagles weren't going to see their coach finish his job up this early, as they made a last ditch effort to snatch victory. North's 4.3 would not be enough against the Eagles' 4.1, one of those goals coming from a 70 metre bomb which took an awkward bounce in direction of goal and dribbled through. The Eagles lived to fight another week as they took out an 11-point win. Luke Jarrad was voted best for the Eagles, while North named James Allan as their best. Allan has also taken out The Advertiser's 2009 SANFL Player of the Year award.

Following that contest it was time for the Qualifying Final, to be contested between the Bulldogs and the Double Blues. For the past few years, one other goal of the eight opposing SANFL clubs other than the premiership has been this... knock off the Bulldogs. Although unused to playing in Qualifying Finals a lot, it has not been a hard ask for the Dogs who have contested every 2nd Semi-Final since 2000. But Sturt can lay claim to a major defeat of Centrals, that being the 2002 Grand Final. The Blues humiliated the reigning premiers in Round 10 as they romped to an 85-point hammering at Unley. The Dogs bit back under the lights of Elizabeth in Round 22 with a three-goal win, but then suffered a Round 23 loss to the Redlegs at The Parade. These two aren't strangers in Qualifying Finals, in the 2008 finals series, the Bulldogs pulled off a miraculous final term recovery to win by three points on their way to their seventh flag. Centrals would go in without three key members -- Andrew Hayes, Ian Callinan and seven time premiership player Matthew Slade. Sturt would miss out on the services of Brant Chambers, who will take another Ken Farmer Medal very soon. Two players were on their 200th career match... one being Blues captain and 2002 Magarey Medallist Jade Sheedy and the other, one half of the Bulldogs' heavyweight "tag team" duo and multiple time State representative, James Gowans.

The match was set to be low scoring, a late light shower at the end of the Elimination Final and again during the first quarter made for slippery conditions which calmed down later on. Sturt started off best, Centrals wasting chances on goal early on as the Blues took a five-point lead at quarter-time, 2.3 to 1.4. The Dogs found more of the big sticks in the second quarter, but so did the Blues. Only behinds made any difference to the gap, those behind going Sturt's way and the gap was extended to seven points at the long break, Sturt 5.5 to Central 4.4. When play resumed another low scoring quarter would occur, but this time it was the Dogs with the momentum in contrast with the first term. They kicked 2.4 to Sturt's 1.3 to even things up at 44 points a piece going into the final quarter. The Blues found themselves on the receiving end of some good fortune thanks to a silly mistake by a Bulldog backman, a goal followed by a free-kick in front of goal within 30 seconds to Charlie Sharples. The Bulldogs weren't finished though, they kicked 5.1 to the Blues 4.1 to win by six points, the Gowans tag team and Jon Giles combining to send their team into a match up with Glenelg next week. Jason Mackenzie was voted best for Centrals, while Jade Sheedy was named best for Sturt.

2009 SANFL FINALS -- WEEK ONE SCORES

Sunday September 13
Elimination Final
Woodville-West Torrens 15.12 (102)
North Adelaide 14.7 (91)

Qualifying Final
Central District 11.9 (75)
Sturt 10.9 (69)
10,192 @ AAMI Stadium


INJURIES
W-WT -- Cicollela (knock to eye)
Central -- Slade (hamstring), Callinan (hamstring), Hayes (adductor).
Sturt -- Chambers (knee)

REPORTS
North -- Cunningham (rough conduct)


OTHER GRADE FINALS
Reserves
Elimination Final -- Glenelg 16.11 (107) def. Port Adelaide 14.8 (92)
Qualifying Final -- Central District 13.14 (92) def. Sturt 10.9 (69)

Under-18 Macca's Cup
Elimination Final -- West Adelaide 20.9 (129) def. Central District 8.9 (57)
Qualifying Final -- Sturt 20.10 (130) def. Port Adelaide 10.12 (72)


Next weekend in Week Two of the SANFL Finals Series...

Saturday September 19 @ Woodville Oval
U-18 1st Semi-Final -- Port Adelaide vs. West Adelaide; 2pm

Saturday September 19 @ City Mazda Stadium, Richmond
Reserves 1st Semi-Final -- Sturt vs. Glenelg; 11:15am
Reserves 2nd Semi-Final -- Woodville-West Torrens vs. Central District; 2pm

Sunday September 20 @ AAMI Stadium
U-18's 2nd Semi-Final -- Glenelg vs. Sturt; 9:10am
1st Semi-Final -- Sturt vs. Woodville-West Torrens; 12:10pm
2nd Semi-Final -- Glenelg vs. Central District; 3:10pm

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

R-23, Ladder