South Adelaide vs Norwood
Round 15 - Flinders University Stadium - 17/07/2022

Goals: Sampson 3, Garthwaite 2, Wilkinson
Best: Broadbent, Heaslip, Sampson, Clavarino, Rose
Crowd: 1,018

Heartbreaking: South Adelaide fell 3 points shy of Norwood during a season-defining clash at Flinders University Stadium on Sunday.

Hard-fought, bitter, agonisingly close: there are many ways to describe the Panther’s Round 15 result – but heartbreaking seems the best.

After battling it out in the low-scoring affair, the Panthers came within minutes of clutching a win but instead fell to a 3 point-loss, 6.8 (44) to 6.11 (47).

Matthew Broadbent valiantly tried to help the Panthers across the line by gathering 29 disposals and 8 rebound 50s. Also impressive were Hayden Sampson, 17 disposals and 3 goals; Ben Heaslip, 25 disposals and 10 clearances; and Matt Rose, 19 disposals and 7 tackles.

It is a shame that these impressive performances were overshadowed by the heartbreaking result. But coming in as the underdogs, this game was never going to be easy for the Panthers.

The visitors registered the opening 2 goals of the game before Ryan Garthwaite could peg one back after the siren. This quarter-time deficit of 1.1 (7) to 2.2 (14) was soon cut to a point following Sampson’s wonderfully struck goal.

However, soon the Redlegs would reply with a goal – their first goal of the term; and the last goal by either team for the opening half.

This low-scoring battle continued into the third term. Eamon Wilkinson booted a thumping goal to get the Panthers going but – as was the theme for most of the game – the Redlegs struck back soon after.

Nonetheless, an end-to-end play – a rare sight of play during this game – was finished off by Garthwaite’s second goal of the day.

Then, after crumbing the footy, Sampson sprinted into an open goal with seconds to spare as the siren sounded just after the goal was given.

This meant South headed into the final change grasping a promising 7-point lead, 5.7 (37) to 4.6 (30).

Norwood pushed for an early goal but after a string of behinds, Sampson struck with his third. But from there, the scoring was done mainly by Norwood. The visitors would string together 5 consecutive scoring shots to take the lead late.

And the Panthers would come extremely close to scoring, but the ball was rushed over the line to seal the Panthers’ heartbreak, 6.8 (44) to 6.11 (47). During the final term: costly errors, wasted forward entries, and a missed holding-the-ball call only made this feeling worse.

However, the Panthers’ final dream still isn’t dead and buried – there is still a chance, and stranger things have happened.

South Adelaide will now look toward their must-win clash with Sturt at Wigan Oval: which is set for Saturday, 23 July, from 2:10pm.