Flashback Friday: Pete's Pocket and Seeing Off Sturt

South Adelaide vs Sturt
Semi Final 1 - 2014 - Adelaide Oval

Goals: Rolfe 5, Cross, Murphy, Overall 3, Eddy 2, Brooksby, Seccull, Gotch, Veide, Gulden
Best: Murphy, Cross, Rolfe, S. Taylor, Macleod, Fields

Ahead of our Qualifying Final clash with Sturt we look at the last time we faced the Double Blues at Adelaide Oval, the first Semi Final of the 2014 Finals.

The Panthers entered the match off the back of a 20-point win in their Elimination Final against Woodville-West Torrens, while Sturt were looking to recover from a Qualifying Final loss to eventual Premiers Norwood.

On paper it looked to be an even contest, with the two teams splitting their season series a game apiece - Sturt winning their first encounter of the year by eight points at Peter Motley Oval and South returning the favour by 24 at Hickinbotham Oval in the final round of the season - and only 0.84% separating the third-placed Blues and fourth-placed Panthers at the end of the minor rounds.

However, it would be South that advanced to the Preliminary Final against Port Adelaide thanks to a comprehensive 68-point win, with Sturt bowing out in straight sets.

Mercurial forward Peter Rolfe starred for the Panthers, racking up 24 touches and slotting five goals, including a miraculous left-footed snap from behind the Adelaide Oval scoreboard that was eventually selected as the 2014 SANFL Goal of the Year.

Watch Rolfey's Goal of the Year here

Meanwhile, Joel Cross was also at his devastating best. Having booted three goals in a best on ground performance against the Eagles in the Elimination Final, Cross again slotted three majors against the Double Blues, also adding eight clearances to his 20 possessions.

Likewise, Scott Taylor (26 disposals and six marks), Brent "Red Dog" Macleod (a game-high 29 touches and eight marks) and Tom Fields (18 possessions, including several 70m bombs from defence) were also key performers.

Sam Overall also continued to blossom in just his fifth game of senior football, booting three goals and taking several strong marks.

Check out the game highlights here

This Saturday we hope to replicate the result of 2014 and get our Finals campaign off to a winning start against Sturt.

Make sure you get to Adelaide Oval to cheer the boys on!

For this week's Match Preview - click here

For this week's Teams - click here

For Finals ticket information - click here

#FightOnForever