Daily Grind Women's Match Report: Round 12 @ Norwood

Daily Grind Women's Match Report Round 12

South Adelaide @ Norwood
Round 12- Cooper's Stadium - 07/05/2022

Goals: Northcott 2, Buethke, Archbold
Best: Northcott, Kirk, Schirmer, Gulden, Campbell

Finals Bound: South Adelaide Women are headed for their fifth consecutive finals campaign following a 25-point victory over Norwood under the lights of Coopers Stadium on Saturday.

Needing to win to make the finals, the Panthers wrestled control of the match during the opening term and never looked back as they surged toward the win, 4.9 (33) to 1.2 (8).

Stepping up during this do or die clash was Cheyenne Hammond . This Gold Coast Sun shined during the Norwood night, finishing with 16 disposals and 14 tackles.

Nicole Campbell  (17 disposals, 6 marks, 6 tackles) and Jess Kirk  (18 disposals, 6 tackles) were also among the standouts for the Panthers.

Heading into this clash with everything to play for, the opening minutes were understandably tense. Unfortunately, midway through the opening term, it was Norwood who struck first with the opening goal of the night.

The Redlegs then pushed for another but the Panthers, who remained composed, were able to handpass their way out of danger and into their forward 50 – where Shae Archbold was able to pounce and kick the Panthers’ first to level the scores.

Minutes later, Tahlita Buethke, followed up with the lead-taking goal. The Panthers held the lead from here onwards.

Coming out of the first break with a narrow lead 7-point lead, the Panthers continued to pepper the goals during the opening minutes – but they struggled to find the centre of the sticks.

It took 10 minutes for the Panthers to register their third major score of the night, with Lucy Northcott managing to collect the footy out of a contest before kicking her first goal of the night..

Northcott’s goal was the only major score of the second term, and it gave South a handy buffer at the halftime break, 3.4 (22) to 1.0 (6).

Northcott continued to produce nothing but highlights. Only minutes into the third term, she took on and bet 3 opponents before strolling into an open goal. This would prove to be the only major score of the quarter – for the second term in a row.

Norwood, who had scored just 2 behinds following their opening goal of the match, began to get frustrated. This frustration boiled into a scuffle that broke out on the wing, but despite this, the Panthers continued to beat them where it counted – on the scoreboard.

Holding a 4.7 (31) to 1.2 (8) lead at the final break: all that was left to do for the Panthers was to keep the Redlegs at bay for 20 minutes.

Jaslynne Smith remained steadfast behind the footy, but the Redlegs continued to push for a goal to break their scoring drought - and they kept pushing throughout the opening minutes of the final term.

But a brilliant play by Jess Waterhouse, which saw her sell candy twice, allowed the Panthers to rebound and ease the pressure on their backline. This was the final nail in the coffin for the Redlegs, and the sting in the game would slowly drain away from here.

The final highlight came when Buethke showed her endurance with a run through the middle during the dying minutes. It was rebounding plays like this that helped keep the Redlegs goalless for the 70 minutes of play that followed their match opener.

More importantly, it was this rebounding mixed with the Panthers’ scoring power that saw them come out as the victors to book themselves into this year’s final sires with a 4.9 (33) to 1.2 (8) win.

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