1st Semi Final Review - Eagles vs South

[Aerie]

Eagles 21.10.136
South 10.6.66

Eagles through to meet Norwood in the Preliminary Final next week.

[Mickyj]

Great win by the boys today started off well fell asleep and came back and went bang with goals!!!

Nice to see the paper wrote off the Eagles during the week .

[RB]

Grocke's gonna have to start kicking set shots if the Eagles are to progress much further

[saintal]

Eagles far too good. Poor start hurt South, we managed to work our way back into it, game in the balance in the 3rd and we committed a couple of shocking blues in defense. Steam-rolled from there.

Need a solid summer in the gym. The Eagles midfielders have the body types that South are lacking.

Bitterly disappointing way to bow out, regardless of the improvement show this year.

Not much else to say really...

Good luck against the Legs next week Eagles.

[Pseudo]

Congratulations to South Adelaide, whose approach to the season was totally focussed and not distracted by petty affairs such as the Foxtel Cup. Ironically the fact that it did not get to compete in the Foxtel Cup may have hampered its efforts to progress further, since it had minimal experience in cut-throat matches against good quality opposition. Nevertheless it now stands to reap the rewards of this season, with a guaranteed invite into next year's Foxtel Cup competition. After all the good clubs inevitably turn it down, that is.

[Aerie]

The first 5 goals of the game to the Eagles and then South fought their way back to get within 2 goals at half time. The gap closed to 5 points in the 3rd before a kick across goal by Cross was intercepted by Goldsworthy who capitalised and from there there was no turning back for the Eagles who had the game won by 3 quarter time when leading by 6 goals.

South's game style is nothing like Norwood so it is hard to gauge what this means for the Eagles. The Eagles will need to attack the ball and body like they did in the 3rd quarter. If they go like they did in the 2nd quarter the result will be much the same as last week. There are still some little things in the Eagles game that suggest to me they aren't quite at the level required. The occasional missed shepherd that would clear a path for a team mate and the occasional lack of real fierce attack on the ball by some players at certain stages of the game - these type of things Central do on autopilot.

I thought Allmond was fantastic today and best for the Eagles. He really lead the way in that 3rd quarter when the game was on the line. I like the helmet version of Raymond much better - he was terrific today across half back and took some gutsy marks. Toumpas was all class and was one of the few who cleanly delivered into the forward 50 - he hit Treeby on the chest 3 times. Treeby was also fantastic kicking 6 goals. Powell and Cica did all the hard stuff in the middle and Lane and Rimington justified their selections, contributing up forward.

McKenzie, Grieger and Grocke have all been relatively quiet this finals series. Possibly our 3 most consistent players - it was good to win and with improvement from these 3 in particular along with Parry and Lewis, you'd think there is something extra the Eagles can give to overcome Norwood next week.

[NO-MERCY]

South have to remember its 4 qtrs of football you must play to have any chance of winning.
I think the Eagles will beat Norwood next week, they must toughen up though.

[LPH]

What, no 'soft' jibes @ South this week?

[LPH]

Tiller was very good in backline - I would play him on Shenton this week.
Didn't have a passenger this week - Almond was very, very good (probably the best game I've seen him play for us).

Note Godden & Players: 1st to the ball wins matches.
Looking forward to next week.

Go You Eagles!!!

[southee]

Disappointing end.

From the word go at the start of the game I knew we were in big trouble. Did not seem as switched on this week. The Eagles definately did their homework and kept our on ball players quiet. I thought Cross and Stribling had a quiet game. I actually was not sure if Stribling was 100% fit.
Some of out decision making was pretty average. Handballing to a teammate when they are under pressure causing turnovers. Credit to the Eagles they kept playing man on man football.
We really missed Thewlis down back today and this threw out some of our structures.

I really wanted to say how proud I am of our football club. We were written off at the start of the year by media critics and other supporters to win a few games but finish bottom. We kept our heads down and had belief and make some people in the papers and on this site eat their words (Cambridge Clarrie where are you?).
It was wonderful to see so many South supporters out there today and looking at the crowd I felt we actually outnumbered the Eagles supporters. The band wagon well and truly rolled up!!!

Us Southee's need to stick together and look at the task ahead as I seriously believe this is only the beginning of something special very soon for our beloved football club.

We will learn from today.

Well done Eagles and all the best for your finals games ahead

[Aerie]

According to the Adelaide Now article, Raymond went in to the game with a facial fracture. That was an awesome performance by him regardless - but that mark going back into the pack shows he does have plenty of courage.

[Sojourner]

Kept thinking if only we played the other three quarters like we played the second...

Think we paid the price for having a thin list and not being able to cover the losses of Sandery and Thelwis, we got into the finals by sheer luck and managed to win one along the way which is going to be invaluable experience to the group moving forward. Today on many occassions I saw boys taking on men and the Eagles played a far harder physical game and cut of the run of our lads accordingly.

As much as it was a bitter pill to swallow today I had to admire the Eagles, They are a classy side and people keep asking the question who will beat Central, if the Eagles despatch Norwood as they did South I do think they are every chance of the flag.

[prowling panther]

Well done to the Eagles today, out played us for most parts of the day, I have to agree, our depth is very thin when it comes to replacing key players like Thewlis and Sandery, I thought out of those who came into the side Tarak Redigolo was the only one who took up the challenge and wanted to play next week.

Ron was fully out coached today by Godden, how he never had anyone trying to nullify the influence on the game by Steven Lewis is beyond , with 5 assistant coaches in the glass enclosure and Ron at ground level surely one of those could have seen Lewis wandering about the place unchecked and given free license to hurt us when ever he felt like it, poor decision by our coaching panel.

The gym will be a busy venue for the young lads on the list during the summer, it will be another couple of years before we will see the benefit of it

Both Brooksby and Bass looked very slow around the ground although they tried hard their skill and sharpness need a lot of improving before next year. Parry got his hands to the ball first for most of the day giving his ball carriers first use which the Panthers were never able to stop, the decision to let Parry go was always going to come and bite us on the bum big time.

So who will get the chance to loose to the Dogs in the GF next Sunday, if todays form is anything to go by then you would have to put your money on the Eagles, then again GF's are a 50 - 50 race.

Good luck to all teams still in the race

[cd]

The Panthers certainly have a good platform to launch their 2012 season now knowing the joy of winning a final and the heartbreak of losing one.

Eagles cant focus on today's win as need to be looking forward to next week's game.

[G]

Hey Mr Fuller, who was that bloke the Eagles should have pensioned off a few seasons ago ???

-Surely it wasnt 6 goal Leigh Treeby

[Jim05]

Probably the right result in end. A side winning just 8 games doesnt deserve to go any further. Dont worry we will be joining you next week
Good learning experience and it points towards bigger and better things for South in the coming years

[Captain_Bulldog]

Disappointign way for South to end the season but all up it's been a major success for them in 2011 compared to wooden spooners last year. If they can keep that group together have a good pre season and stick together I think the future at Noarlunga is looking bright which will be great for SANFL.

Eagles clearly the better team and will surely have a real crack at Norwood in what should be a really hard game

[darley16]

Beaten by a bigger side, the loss of Sandery and Thewlis was always going to hurt. Really proud of the playing group all year, never gave up a game and keep team disipline and structures throughout the season.
Sojourner you don't make finals by sheer luck, you have to make the most of your opportunities and South did that and deserved their finals experience and clearly didn't just make up the numbers. Some selective recruiting, continued gym work and we have a list capable of so much more in 2012.

[Reddeer]

Despite the finals loss against a classier committed Eagles, lookout South are on the move UP.

[heater31]

Despite the finals loss against a classier committed Eagles, lookout South are on the move UP.

If the Sunday Mail journalist sources are to believed then there could be a few gaping holes to fill first......

On the game the panthers had a poor first term and worked back into it by half time. Got within a kick during the third but couldn't sustain it. Probably spent far too much energy the week before?