Daily Grind Women's Match Report: Round 11 @ Glenelg

Daily Grind Women's Match Report Round 11

South Adelaide @ Glenelg
Round 11 - ACH Group Stadium - 01/05/2022

Goals: Buethke 2, Boileau, Clifton, Hammond
Best: Hammond, Campbell, Northcott, Kirk

So Close Yet So Far: South Adelaide lost by the smallest of margins during their thrilling clash with Glenelg at ACH Group Stadium on Saturday.

The Panthers, who are fighting for a position in the finals, enjoyed a fast start before the Tigers managed to claw themselves back into the match. Then, with 4 minutes left to play, a minor score proved to be the difference in the 5.4 (34) to 4.11 (35) defeat. 

Cheyenne Hammond (13 disposals, 13 tackles) continued to show her AFLW class for the Panthers. Likewise, Jess Kirk (15 disposals, 10 tackles) and Nicole Campbell (18 disposals, 8 clearances) also featured heavily in this thrilling match. Since the weekend’s other results fell into the Panthers’ favour, a win would have seen them jump into a finals spot with a round to play.

However, as fate would have it, this result has set up a do or die clash with the Redlegs, who are also fighting for a finals position, in the final weekend of the home and away season.

This match started promising for the Panthers. A brilliant 5-minute stint by Tahlita Buethke, during which she kicked 2 goals, put the Panthers on the front foot early.  Following Buethke’s brilliance, the home side would go on to record the next 8 scoring shots—luckily, they were all minor scores. 

It took until fifty-fifth second mark of the third term for the Tigers to record their opening goal of the game. But, since they had kicked so many points, this goal gave them a 1-point lead. Hammond’s goal answered the call for the Panthers to retake the lead. However, back-to-back goals within 3 minutes by the opposition threatened to break the game open.

Luckily, Brooke Boileauwas able to steady the side with a much-needed goal: a goal that sent the Panthers into the final break grasping a 2-point lead, 4.4 (28) to 3.8 (26).  Minutes into the tense final quarter, Lauren Clifton gave the Panthers some breathing space with a crucial goal.

However, the visitors couldn’t defend this lead for long as the Tigers’ struck back a minute later to cut the lead down to a point. The defensive tried to stand up against the Tigers’ sudden surge. Sam Pratt (14 disposals, 4 tackles) andNicole Collie (14 disposals, 4 rebound 50s) were among the Panthers that were trying their hardest behind the footy.

This nail-biting 1-point defeat, 5.4 (34) to 4.11 (35), isn’t the end of the Panthers’ finals dream since even if they had won—they would still need to defeat the Redlegs to hold onto their finals position. The Panthers now face off against Norwood at Coopers Stadium in an early Elimination Final as the winner of this Round Twelve clash will get to extend their season into the SANFLW’s final series.

Set to feature after the men’s clash, the Panther women will take to the field on Saturday, 7 May, from 4:50pm.

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