MRS Property League Match Report Round 14: South vs North

MRS Property League Match Report

South Adelaide vs North Adelaide
Round 14 - Flinders University Stadium - 27/09/20

Goals: Overall 4, Bogle 2, Sampson, Heaslip, Andrews , Broadbent, Biemans, Wilkinson, Hunter
Best: Heaslip, Overall, Haines, Cross, Broadbent, Haren
Injuries: Sawford (Hamstring)
Full Injury List

South Adelaide keep their stunning momentum going as they storm into finals on the back of a seven-goal win over the second placed Roosters at Flinders University Stadium on Sunday.

'A nice pleasing performance heading into finals, we've been able to build a nice three-week consecutive wins ' Head Coach Jarrad Wright said post-match.

It was the final goal of the match and it involved two of the Panthers biggest contributors of the day, the Alex Aurrichio medallist Sam Overall took a one-handed contested mark before handpassing off to Ben Heaslip who ran in and kicked truly to extend the Panthers win to 13.9 (87) to 6.9 (45).

While the game was a "dead-rubber" with the top four already set, and both sides resting players, it became obvious from the first bounce that the two sides were not going to take it easy.

Paul Hunter set the tone early for his strong performance with a contender for mark of the day after just two minutes of play.

The opening half was, as Head Coach Jarrad Wright described, an 'open kamikaze brand of football' with both teams going end to end, and it was of these rebound attacks that allowed Matthew Broadbent to kick the first goal of the day on the run after just two minutes of play.

Minutes later, Heaslip would also make a case for mark of the day with a strong contested mark on the wing.

He would go onto be named as the Best on Ground for the Panthers, finishing with a team-high 28 disposals as well as eight clearances.

Continuing on with their previous matches, the Panthers continued to put on immense forward pressure which allowed Joel Cross to set it up to the tip of the goal square where Overall was able to take a strong overhead mark to claim his first goal of the match.

The Panthers early two goal lead would be cut to one goal just minutes later as North Adelaide booted their first of the day to which the Panthers were able to reply to thanks to a contested one on one mark by Anthony Biemans before setting up Overall for his second of the opening quarter.

With a four-point lead at the first change, the Panthers struck first in the opening minute as Luke Bogle was able to back up his standout performance of the previous round with another goal.

Unfortunately, the opening minutes of the second term would also see Ben Sawford pull-up injured while attempting to chase down an opponent leaving the Panthers with a rotation down for the rest of the match.

This was a sour moment during a rather sweet match, as Hayden Sampson was able to join the goal kickers minutes later, while Jake Summerton was able to link up with Broadbent and Sampson to send the Panthers rebounding into attack which was finished off nicely by Biemans.

Meanwhile, at the other end Tom Highmore was able to prevent a Roosters' reply thanks to a gutsy intercept mark.

The Panthers valiant defending eventually gave way at the end of the second term as the visitors booted two goals in two minutes to cut South Adelaide's lead to 6.2 (38) to 5.3 (33) at the main break.

The opening minutes of the third term saw the Panthers defence hold firm thanks to intercept marks by Ben Haren and Joe Hines the latter of which did a thumping kick inside 50 that flew over North's defenders and fell into the hands of Overall.

Hunter then followed up minutes later with his first goal of the match before Eamon Wilkinson showed some great forward pressure before snapping his first of the day.

The Panthers continued this late blitz as Bogle was able to drill his second goal of the day from dead in front.

Then Cross collected it out of the centre bounce, fired it deep into attack, and Overall was able to take another strong contested mark for his fourth goal of the match to hand South Adelaide a 11.6 (72) to 5.4 (34) lead at the final change.

The Roosters opened the scoring with their first and only goal of the second half which was also their first goal since the twenty-seventh minute mark of the second term.