MRS Property Match Report Round 10: vs Norwood

MRS Property Match Report

South Adelaide vs Norwood
Round 10 - Flinders University Stadium - 14/06/21

Goals: Overall, Heaslip 2, Cross, Gibbs, Horne, Schwarz, Skinner
Best: Haines, Broadbent, Horne, Cailotto
Crowd: 2163

A nine-point loss against Norwood at Flinders University Stadium sours South Adelaide's celebrations of one of their club greats.

The injury-plagued Panthers went toe to toe with Norwood throughout the match, but inaccuracy proved to be the difference between winning and losing by nine points, 9.12 (66) to 11.9 (75).

Continuing his string of strong performances was Joe Haines who finished the match with 24 disposals, 10 marks and 13 rebound 50s. Also impressive was Jason Horne, who finished with 19 touches, 5 tackles and 4 clearances.

The Panthers came into the match with fourteen unavailable players on their list, which increased to fifteen after Spacie went down in the Reserves match earlier in the day. But the Panthers league side brought in Jesse McKinnon, Damon Freitag and Jaidan Kappler.

Despite the growing injury list, Panther fans were treated to a dream start to Joel Cross's 200th match as he strolled into an open goal for the first major of the match. Unfortunately, the other goals by the Panthers didn't come as easily as two shots hit the woodwork during the opening term.

Deep into stoppage time, McKinnon was able to just gain enough space amongst the pack to quickly set up Sam Overall who went back and drilled a thumping goal from beyond the arc.

Then, within the dying minute, Jason Horne was able to crumb the footy, steady, and kick truly from close range to hand the Panthers a 3.5 (23) to 1.0 (6) lead at the first break.

The second term saw Norwood kick with the favourable breeze at their backs and they made the most of it with three unanswered goals within the opening twelve minutes of the quarter.

Midway through the quarter, the Panthers were able to find some relief once they countered a Norwood rebound, allowing Overall to strike on the run to help steady the side.

Norwood then pushed to increase their lead late, but Ben Haren was able to take a contested mark with the flight of the ball deep in defensive 50 which locked the scores at 4.6 (30) to 5.5 (35) at the main break.

Nic Schwarz struck early on into the third term to help retake the lead for the Panthers, but the next shot from the Panthers struck the post which put the post-tally to three for the day.

Needing to make the most of this wind advantage, Horne's slick pick-up off the deck and kick inside 50 was taken strongly by Sam Skinner whose goal bumped the Panthers lead up to nine points.

Unfortunately, the Panthers would go onto miss two set shots before Norwood was able to go end to end and kick one of their own.

Then after a cruel non-holding the ball call, the Panthers conceded another goal from a tough angle which put the final break deficit to 6.10 (46) to 8.8 (56).

The Panthers needed an early goal to bring the lead within a straight kick, but a costly and slightly soft 15-metre penalty on the wing gave the Redlegs the first decent look inside 50.

Luckily, the Panthers defence managed to stay strong, and they repelled the attack. Then, within the fourth minute, Ben Heaslip was able to out body his opponent and mark right in front of the sticks before kicking the much-needed goal.

Hayden Sampson then looked like he had made the game-winning play after winning a contest in the middle before hitting up his teammate inside 50, but this kick to take the lead missed to the far side.

South Adelaide then momentarily lost Ben Sawford after a courageous collision on the wing, and from here things went from bad to worse as the Redlegs kicked two unanswered goals.

Matthew Broadbent was able to help rebound the ball out of the defensive 50, and this end-to-end play was finished off by a big pack mark and goal by Heaslip. But within the next minute, Norwood struck again.

Then with nothing left to lose, a massive kick inside 50 was marked by Bryce Gibbs who sent it through the middle of the big sticks but the siren would sound a minute later to signal the bitter 9.12 (66) to 11.9 (75) loss.

Despite the lead being within striking distance for the majority of the match, it felt a million miles away. This nine-point margin was the same as the earlier result of the Panthers loss to Norwood this season.

The Panthers will look to recover and rest with a weekend off, then they will look to regain their winning form when they face off against Sturt at Unley Oval on Saturday, 26 June, from 2:35pm.

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