Daily Grind Women's Match Report: Round 11 vs West

Daily Grind Women's Match Report

South Adelaide vs West Adelaide
Round 11 - Flinders Univeristy Stadium - 15/05/2021

Goals: Hooper 2, Hickey, Kirk, Schirmer
Best: Campbell, Whiteley, R. Moon, Charlton, McKinnon, Hooper

Lost the battle but won the war: a gutsy fightback by South Adelaide sees the Panthers make their fourth consecutive finals campaign despite going down to West Adelaide by a point at Flinders University Stadium.

The Panthers, who were trailing by 21 points at the final change, managed to more than double their score during the final term; but they ultimately fell just short of snatching glory, 5.3 (33) to 5.4 (34).

However, this smallest of margins meant it had a minimal effect on the Panthers' percentage, which was the deciding factor between who made finals between them and last year's reigning premiers.

Backing up last week's performance was Nicole Campbell, who finished with a team-high 21 touches and a game-high nine marks. Also impressive was premiership Panther Lisa Whiteley, and Goolwa recruit, Renee Moon.

It was one of the most dramatic endings to a SANFLW minor season since the competition's inception; with North Adelaide, South Adelaide, and West Adelaide all vying for the remaining two finals spots.

One could not help but draw parallels to the 2019 season, when the Panthers defeated West Adelaide during the final minor round game which saw the Bloods lose their finals spot to Glenelg and this only become more relevant after the Panthers fast start.

During the opening minutes, Gypsy Schirmer was able to use her signature pace to help the Panthers rebound off half back. This fast ball movement put West Adelaide's defence under the pump, which Jorja Hooper capitalised on with the first goal of the match.

South Adelaide continued to push in an attempt to increase this early lead, but the side struggled to get a decent look inside 50 as the Bloods begun to bring the pressure.

After many minutes of attacking, the anti-density rule cost the Panthers plenty of meterage. Yet, after many attempts, the Bloods wayward kicking saw them kick two behinds in as many minutes. That was until Elsegood found the middle of the sticks for the Bloods first of the match which swept the lead out from under the Panthers.

During the dying minutes of the opening term, a soaring intercept mark at half forward by Moon allowed the Panthers to have a few more minutes of possession up forward but still the Bloods defence held firm till the quarter time siren.

Trailing by just two points, the second term brought flashbacks to the Panther-Bloods clash at Adelaide Oval earlier this season, in which the Panthers struggled all day under West's immense pressure.

And it was this pressure that the Bloods brought back during the second quarter.

Once again, some wayward kicking helped the Panthers as the Bloods scored just 1.2 (8) during the second term. But since the Panthers went scoreless during the second quarter, they entered the main break facing a 1.0 (6) to 2.4 (16) deficit.

The Bloods looked to open the scoring early into the third term, but a strong mark by Brianna Wedding helped the Panthers rebound. Then, after some clever play by Jess Kirk, Campbell was able to send it over the pack to Jordann Hickey, who went back and drilled a much-needed goal.

However, from here it was all the visitors; with the Panthers struggling to contain AFLW listed Crow, Ailish Considine. Within the final eight minutes of the third term, the Bloods slotted three goals to hand the Panthers a 21-point deficit at the final change.

With everything to play for during the final term, the Panthers mounted a seemingly impossible comeback.

Kirk got things going with a strong mark and an impressive goal from a tough angle. Minutes later, Hooper followed suit with her second major of the match. The Panthers managed to massively swing the momentum into their favour, but with the side still trailing by eight points it looked too little too late.

That was until Schirmer managed to steady and get a kick away despite numerous opponents around herand suddenly the Panthers were one straight kick away from snagging the win.

A behind further closed the gap, but with just three minutes left the Bloods were able to string together several uncontested marks to waste precious time. That was until they broke the anti-density rule with just 20 seconds left.

However, with plenty of pressure and just seconds left; the wayward kick inside 50 was marked by the Bloods and the siren would sound to signal the narrow loss, 5.3 (33) to 5.4 (34).

While Sturt managed to mount a mini fightback of their own against North Adelaide, the Panthers comeback, despite not getting the win, was enough to see them claim a finals position.  

Show the Girls that your are #SouthProud in 2021!