MRS Property League Match Report Round 8: South vs Eagles

MRS Property League Match Report

South Adelaide vs Woodville West-Torrens
Round 8 - Flinders University Stadium - 15/08/20

Goals: Overall 3, McCreery, Whittlesea, Wilkinson
Best: Hunter, Loneragan, Schwarz, Overall, Juckers, Sampson
Injuries: Haren (Quad strain)
Full Injury List

An inaccurate South Adelaide suffers a 21-point loss against the ladder-leading Eagles at Flinders University Stadium on Saturday.

Despite registering four more scoring shots, the Panthers suffered their third straight loss this season as they fell to a bitter 6.15 (51) to 11.6 (72) loss.

In a bright note, both of South Adelaide's Round Eight debutants played impressively, with Danny Juckers collecting 18 touches and seven marks, while Paul Hunter racked up 24 disposals and nine clearances during his Best on Ground performance.

The Panthers looked dangerous early, with some impressive marks by Reece Milsom (18 disposals) allowing the Panthers to attack deep within their forward 50 but after repeated entries the Panthers still could not get a reward.

It would not be until the fourteenth minute mark that Thomas Whittlesea (six marks) kicked truly from a slight angle to hand South Adelaide their first goal of the match.

The Panthers would go onto register four more behinds, two of which were rushed to hold a narrow 1.4 (10) to 1.0 (6) lead at the first change.

South Adelaide were provided with plenty of firepower through the midfield, with the likes of Hayden Sampson (18 disposals), Nic Schwarz (23 disposals) and Joel Cross (24 disposals) all playing well for the Panthers.

However, the second term would see the visitors threaten to run away with the game early, as the Eagles booted 4.2 (26) to South Adelaide's four behinds within the first eighteen minutes of play.

As the quarter entered stoppage time, Eamon Wilkinson (five tackles) was able to collect the ball out of a marking contest and kick a much-needed goal for the Panthers but still the side entered the main break facing a 2.10 (22) to 6.2 (38) deficit.

Despite trailing at halftime by sixteen points, the Panthers had managed more clearances (17 to 11) and more inside 50s (26 to 20) while Cross and Hunter had combined for 27 touches over the first half.

Things did not look good during the early minutes of the third term as the Eagles extended their league.

However, Matthew Broadbent (15 disposals) perfectly hit up Sam Overall who kicked truly to get his first of the day, then Overall followed up again with his second goal in as many minutes.

The Panthers would go onto to trade blows with the Eagles during the remaining minutes of the third quarter as Beau McCreery kicked his first of match while Overall finished off the quarter with his third to cut the Panthers' deficit to just eight points at the final change.

Unfortunately, despite closing the gap to within just two straight kicks the Panthers could not manage to break through the Eagles defensive-flood.

As the Eagles continued to push deep into their attack, the South Adelaide defence managed to hold them off keeping the possibility of a late comeback alive.

Joe Haines marked the ball inside the Eagles goal square, halting what would have been a certain goal while the Panthers second best during the match, James Loneragan, continued to play well.

But the repeated inside 50s by the Eagles proved too much to handle and a few costly errors allowed the Eagles to boot the only two goals of the final term, handing South Adelaide the bitter 6.15 (51) to 11.6 (72) defeat.

South Adelaide will now look to bounce back against Glenelg at ACH Group Stadium on Saturday August 22, from 2:10pm.

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