Australian Football

Round 19

Premiership season 2011 - Round 19 Review

Total Crowd 14,483 (Avg 3,621)

Four more rounds to go folks... just four more rounds. While the top two teams continue to fight it out for the minor premiership, the last three places on the ladder aren't entirely set in stone yet. With the wildcats of the league breathing down their neck, the Eagles are just barely maintaining their hold on third as the Panthers and the Tigers make their move. But their spots on the ladder are in just as much jeopardy as the birds of prey from Woodville. This is shaping up to be a helluva month of football coming up.

Welcome to the Round 19 edition of the SANFL Wrap-Up

First off in the wrap, Friday Night mayhem sees us head on up The Parade to Coopers Stadium for the match between the Redlegs and the Bloods. The last time these two locked horns, the 'Legs launched a humiliating raid on Westies turf in Round 9 to hand out a nine-goal defeat to the Bloods to score a hat-trick of wins. Things have gone downhill for West lately, sinking close to rock bottom of the ladder. The Bloods would take a one-point lead going into the first change after kicking 2.3 to 2.2, but the Redlegs would rectify that in the second quarter. Westies should still have been in front at half-time, but poor shooting would see them kick 1.3 to Norwood's 2.1 to give the 'Legs a three-point lead at the long break. When play resumed, the Redlegs finally fired up. The Bloods were restricted to just two behinds in the third quarter while the home side would add a further 4.4 to stretch their advantage to 29 points at the last change. The Bloods made a last-ditch run for the win, but unlike one of the globes on the Coopers Hill light tower, the Redlegs' weren't ever in danger of falling down. Norwood's two goals were enough to nullify West's 4.2 effort and saw them home by 15 points. Youngster Luke Brown was named best for the 'Legs, while Ben Fisher was voted best for the Bloods.

In the first of two Saturday afternoon matches, we head down Port Road to the Unleash Solar Oval in Woodville for the contest between the Eagles and the Bulldogs. In their last stoush, the Doggies escaped Oval Avenue with a one-goal win in Round 14 to end their hoodoo at the Eagles' nest. Fresh off a two-week absence thanks to the split round, the Eagles began proceedings by kicking 5.2 to the Dogs' 2.1 in the first term to take a 19-point lead at quarter-time. Both teams had a hard time finding the goals in the second term, but the home side would be up by 20 points by half-time after adding 2.2 to 2.1. It was clear the absence of a dominant forward was hurting the Dogs early on, as well as some poor judgement and in one case an unbelievable umpiring error. But when play restarted for the second half, the altered forward line started to pay dividends for the reigning premiers. The third quarter saw Centrals blast the Eagles away with their 7.5 to 2.1 effort, the visitors going into the final quarter with a 14-point lead. The last term was a shootout, the Dogs holding off the Eagles to take a 15-point win after scoring 4.3 to 4.2. Chris Gowans was voted best for the Dogs, while the Eagles named Mark McKenzie as their standout. One unbelievable stat was the free kick count... 33 to 20 in favour of the Eagles!

In the other Saturday arvo match, the ABC cameras headed down to Gliderol Stadium at the Bay for the encounter between the Tigers and the Double Blues. The last time they met it was Round 8 at Adelaide Oval where 41 goals were kicked as the Tigers took a 57-point win over the Blues. Straight from the outset history looked like repeating as a first term shootout ensued, the Tigers kicking 8.1 to Sturt's 6.2 to lead by 11 points at quarter-time. The trend continued in the second term, the Blues' inaccuracy preventing them from taking the lead as they kicked 4.3 to four goals, reducing the Tigers' lead to eight points by the half-time break. When play resumed for the second half, the Tigers hit the ground running again. But this time the Blues didn't keep pace as the Bays kicked 6.2 to Sturt's 2.2 to seemingly break the game apart. At three quarter-time, Glenelg was holding onto a 32-point lead. Sturt would make a last quarter charge at the Tigers, but would ultimately fall short by 13 points after they kicked 6.4 to 3.3. Kane Tenace took out best on ground honours for Glenelg, while Sturt voted Timothy McIntyre as their best afield. So that is 80 goals between them from just two matches... in the same season! Nuts.

In the final match for Round 19, the attention shifted to the Alberton Oval as the Magpies and the Roosters fronted up to save their season from finals oblivion. The Roosters have had it all over the Magpies as of late, the last four matches going the way of the red & whites, including a 28-point win in Round 3 at Prospect. The Roosters would start off best, kicking 5.2 to Port's 3.3 in the opening term to take an 11-point lead at quarter-time. Despite having more of the scores in the second term, the Magpies would not capitalise on their 10 scoring shots as they kicked 3.7 to North's 4.1. At the long break, the visitors would maintain the quarter-time deficit of 11 points. The inaccuracy would continue to frustrate the Magpies faithful, but after outscoring the Roosters 3.6 to 3.1, the three quarter-time deficit would be reduced to just one goal to keep up hope. But that hope was all but erased in the final term as the Roosters choked the life out of Port's forwards to restrict them to just 1.3 whilst adding 6.1 to their score to take a 34-point win and lift themselves to sixth on the ladder by percentage. Daniel Stewart kicked eight goals to bag best afield votes for North, while Mark Dolling was named best for Port.

INJURIES Central - C. Gowans (hamstring) W-WT - Treeby (hamstring) Sturt - Wundke (concussion) North - Allan (knock to head)

REPORTS Central - Hayes (charging) W-WT - Jarrad (striking) North - Haniford (rough conduct), Thring (striking)

R-19, Ladder