Tough day at the Bay for the Panther Juniors with the U16s losing by 86 points and the U18s going down by 42 points during their games against Glenelg at ACH Group Stadium on Saturday.

The Panther Under-16s struggled to get things going as they fell to Glenelg, 4.10 (34) to 19.6 (120). The Panther Under-18s on the other hand led at halftime, but a costly second half saw them fall to a loss, 8.7 (55) to 15.7 (97).

The under-18s match started as a shootout between the sides. The teams continually traded blows, but ultimately it was the Tigers who led at the first break, 3.0 (18) to 4.1 (25). However, the Panthers surged ahead during the second term with 3 unanswered goals.

But this lead couldn’t be sustained. After halftime, the Panthers booted 5 more goals, yet they conceded 11. This led to their 42-point defeat.

However, score aside there were some highlights for the Panthers. Will Verrall performed well again, this time with 36 hit-outs, 15 disposals, and 5 clearances. Also strong for the Panthers were Jye Bottroff, 14 disposals and 3 straight goals: and Jack Delean, 18 disposals and 2 goals.

The Panther Under-16s had several key outs due to the AFL U16 National Championships – which South Australia came out from as the 2022 champions.

This left the door open for some new names to impress, with Brad Jackson having 17 disposals, 9 tackles and 6 clearances, and Hudson Voigt finishing with 15 disposals and 2 goals. But the highlights of the day stopped there.

From the start, South Adelaide struggled to get going. The Tigers booted 7 unanswered goals within the first 15 minutes of the match before Voigt brought their streak to an end.

After that, Glenelg would go on to kick a further 9 unanswered goals before Voigt once again stepped up to break their scoring tide. To the boys’ credit, they kept fighting – and added 2 more goals to their tally during the final term.

But by then, the 4.10 (34) to 19.6 (120) result was all but sealed.

The Panther Juniors will look to bounce back when they clash with Norwood at Coopers Stadium on Saturday, 16 July. The Under-16s will kick things off at 11:00am, and the Under-18s will follow from 1:15pm.

South Adelaide Under-18 @Glenelg Under-18
Round 13 - ACH Group Stadium - 9/07/2022

Goals: Bottroff 3, Delean 2, Christophers, Knox, Pearsons
Best: Amos, Verrall, Delean, Marshall, Rodrigues

South Adelaide Under-16 @ Glenelg Under-16
Round 13 - ACH Group Stadium - 9/07/2022

Goals: Voigt 2, Kuerschner, McCreanor
Best: Sterzl, Voigt, Sheean, Woods, Singh