MRS Property League Match Report Round 3: Panthers back on the winners list

MRS Property Reserves Match Report

South Adelaide @ Central District
Round 3 - X Convenience Oval - 11/07/20

Goals: McCreery 3, Wilkinson 2, Bogle, Cailotto, Dumesny, Fitt, Haren, McGree
Best: Haines, Broadbent, Kappler, McGree, Highmore, Heaslip
Injuries: Nil

An eight goal to one second half sees the fast-finishing Panthers defeat the Bulldogs by 44 points at X Convenience Oval on Saturday.

South Adelaide showed plenty of promise during the opening half and enjoyed many more forward entries than the Bulldogs, but similar to the previous round they failed to reflect it on the scoreboard.

However, with the scores tied at the main break, the fast-finishing Panthers charged home during the final two quarters to claim an impressive 11.12 (78) to 5.4 (34) victory.

Following an unlucky loss during the previous round, South Adelaide were determined to start out as the better side, and they capitalised early on with Eamon Wilkinson kicking the first goal of the day after just two minutes of play.

The Panthers came close to extending their lead even further but could only manage two behinds, this was until Alex Cailotto kicked truly to hand South an early 14-point lead.

Central District managed to respond with their first and only goal of the opening term at the tenth minute mark, and the Panthers headed into the first change with a 2.4 (16) to 1.1 (7) lead.

Five minutes into the second term, some magic by Liam Fitt saw the Panthers extend the lead to double digits.

However, the home side finished off the second quarter strongly with three unanswered goals.

Despite the Panthers having five more scoring shots, they headed into the main break with the scores locked at 3.7 (25) to 4.1 (25).

South Adelaide continued to wrack up the inside 50s during the third term, but it would not be until the eight-minute mark that the Panthers would score the first major of the quarter, courtesy of the third gamer, Beau McCreery. 

South Adelaide's next goal would also come via another third gamer, with Zachary Dumesny kicking truly midway through the third term.

Meanwhile, at the other end of the ground, Jaidan Kappler continued to play impressively.

While South's young home-grown talent were impressive, so were their senior players.

With Joe Haines continually making his presence felt around the ground during his best on ground performance for the Panthers, in which he collected a total of 30 disposals and 11 marks.

Likewise, the two recruits in Matthew Broadbent (26 disposals, 9 clearances) and Tom Highmore (19 disposals, 8 marks) were also impressive in the blue and white.

The strong Panther defence limited the home side to just one point for the third quarter but some wayward kicking during the final stages prevented the Panthers from further tightening their grip on the game, but they still enjoyed a strong 5.11 (41) to 4.2 (26) lead at the final break.

Once again, South Adelaide put on an impressive fourth quarter display with many forward entries, however this time they were able to reflect it on the scoreboard.

After seven minutes of play, Cam McGree booted his first goal of the game and the Panthers first of the final term.

Then just two minutes later, McCreery followed up with his second goal of the match.

As the Panthers began to take control of the match, Luke Bogle joined the growing list of goalkickers with his first of the day while Wilkinson was able to follow up with his second.

Meanwhile, Ben Heaslip (24 disposals) and Joel Cross (25 disposals) continued to provide the Panthers with plenty of fire power.

In the dying stages of the fourth quarter, McCreery struck again with his third goal of the game, before Central District could reply at the twenty-eighth minute mark with their first goal since the second quarter.

A very late goal by Ben Haren topped off an outstanding final term for the Panthers, in which they piled on six goals to the Bulldogs' one to claim the impressive 11.12 (78) to 5.4 (34) victory.

The Panthers managed to dominate the air with 131 marks to the Bulldogs' 107. Likewise, they enjoyed many more inside 50s with 54 to the Dogs' 20.

South Adelaide's next match sees them play at home for the first time this season, as they set their sights on Sturt and will clash with the Double Blues at Flinders University Stadium on Saturday July 18, from 2:10pm.

With more information to come, the 1000 spectator limit will likely still be applied, with Home and Season members being able to access the match. 

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