MRS Property Reserves Match Report Round 4: vs Sturt

MRS Property Reserves Match Report

South Adelaide vs Sturt
Round 4 - Flinders University Stadium - 24/04/21

Goals: Nobes 3, McCreery 2, Flett
Best: Gaden, McKinnon, Turner, Elsworthy, Dumesny, Juckers

A costly second half sees the South Adelaide Reserves fall to a 31-point loss against Sturt at Flinders University Stadium.

The bottom-placed Panthers looked to overcome their troublesome start to the year as they trailed by just a point at halftime, yet a two to six goal second half saw them fall to a 6.10 (46) to 10.11 (71) defeat.

Building his case for a league call-up was Jesse McKinnon, who finished with 30 disposals and 9 clearances. Also strong was first-year Panther Sam Gaden who collected 15 touches and 12 marks.

There were worrying signs during the opening term as the Panthers, who had been bolstered by returning players, conceded the first three goals to trail by 20 points during the late stages of the quarter.

Yet with just six minutes left till the first break, Oliver Megins was able to give a clever handpass over an opponent to Jack Flett, who ran into an open goal for the Panthers first of the day.

Trailing 1.1 (7) to 3.3 (21) at the first change, the visitors once again opened the scoring to increase the Panthers deficit to 21 points.

However, just a minute later Daniel Nobes was able to take a strong pack mark and drill a much-needed goal for the blue and white.

This then handed South Adelaide some momentum, which they then capitalised on thanks to a clever goal off the deck by Jake McCreery. 

Continuing on with this, a ruck tap by Megins fell into the lap of McKinnon, whose thumping kick inside 50 fell into the hands of Nobes who went back and drilled his second goal of the quarter to bring the lead to within a kick.

The halftime score line read 4.4 (28) to 4.5 (29), a promising sign for the Panthers who had doubled the Double Blues scoring shots during the second termyet this would not be a sign of things to come.

Nobes hit the score board again for his third of the match, but most of the third term belonged to Sturt. Luckily, the home side was let off the hook as the Double Blues scored just 2.5 (17) during the quarter but this wayward kicking still handed the Panthers an eleven-point deficit.

This wayward kicking would plague the Panthers during the final term as the side kicked just one goal and five behinds for the duration of the fourth term.

Sturt on the other hand kicked four final-term goals to hand the Panthers a bitter end to a promising start, 6.10 (46) to 10.11 (71).

South Adelaide will now face off against Norwood at Coopers Stadium on Friday, 30 April, from 5:10pm. 

Are you on board for 2021?