Rd 1 South v Sturt review

[NFC]

Felt like a loss

Certainly some encouraging signs, with the tackling pressure and commitment similair to the early matches under Cahill. 31 points up early in the 2nd, i felt as though we had our chances to push the lead out to 6 or 7 goals, but they went astray and once Sturt got within 2 or 3 they were always going to be hard to hold off.

A couple of key errors in the final 10 minutes hurt (young Whitford not registering a least a point with his shot from the pocket, and a blunder from a kick-out which resulted in a behind to Chambers), while you'd back Warren most times to nail that final shot.

Cockshell was good in ruck, drifting forward to kick a couple, Perry played his best league game, Liddle had plently of it and will be a player, Horne provided good run from the back-lines, Murphy did some nice things in the guts, while Crabb kept Chambers pretty well maintained.

Sheedy probably the best for Sturt.

Lastly, I'm not sure about the "voice over" after goals. I was waiting for Fuller to call a time-out, or for Sturt to take a trip to the 'charity stripe' (oh wait..they did)

Agreed, and the whole 'make some noise" thing, soo American. Do we really need it? No.

[baggy8]

Can't help but wonder if South might've won had they been two points down instead of one when Warren took his shot. He would surely have had to take more time to prepare and there could have been no thought at the back of his mind of the safety net of 'we'll still get a draw even if I miss'. It wasn't a bad kick in pretty tricky conditions, but lacked the Scott Hodges-type determination that it will go through.

[zipzap]

The 2-dollar shop voice over guy was a laughing stock - even South supporters were cringing. Good on South (hang on, I thought you guys were the Panthers now, though yesterday were referred to as "YOUR SOUTH ADELAIDE PANTHERS!!!" ad nauseum) for trying something different...it's just not the right fit. I preferred the growl

[dedja]

Just out of interest, what was the biggest margin the Panthers were up by in the match and when? Cheers ...

[85 WAS A GOOD YEAR]

At the start of the League game did they play the theme music from the "Your tribe is calling" SANFL ad over and over? Cos was played a few times at the Bay. Just wondering if it was an SANFL directive?

[CK]

Just out of interest, what was the biggest margin the Panthers were up by in the match and when? Cheers ...

Peter Rolfe's goal at the twelve minute mark of the second quarter put them 30 points up.

[DOC]

At the start of the League game did they play the theme music from the "Your tribe is calling" SANFL ad over and over? Cos was played a few times at the Bay. Just wondering if it was an SANFL directive?

Don't remember it. Sound sytem not good under the Stratco Wing. Anyone else know?

[dedja]

Just out of interest, what was the biggest margin the Panthers were up by in the match and when? Cheers ...

Peter Rolfe's goal at the twelve minute mark of the second quarter put them 30 points up.

Thanks CK.

[topcat10]

At the start of the League game did they play the theme music from the "Your tribe is calling" SANFL ad over and over? Cos was played a few times at the Bay. Just wondering if it was an SANFL directive?

Don't remember it. Sound sytem not good under the Stratco Wing. Anyone else know?

If that bloke is on the microphone next time I venture to Noarlunga I will have to make sure I stand under the Stratco shed then. It was too loud,too American and too nauseating.They could have been playing the SANFL promo ad but we would not have been able to hear it over the spruiker who at one stage announced that one of the Panther goalkickers had played 2 games for them and eventually corrected himself to say 'actually it's 29 games"

[Inflight]

I thought the voice over was very strange especially when he called out "price check on check out 2"

give me a break

[topcat10]

On another note- I had no objection to having a security officer check the boot of my car as I drove in to park inside the ground,but was so intrigued I walked back to enquire about the reason for this. An SANFL official told me that they were looking for alcohol as this is seriously frowned upon by them. I didn't even realise that it wasn't allowed (I didn't have any in the car).I thought maybe they were looking for free-loaders avoiding the entrance fee ala in the old drive-in days
Strange that the SANFL should be so strict about this at a ground with 2,600 people attending,but manage to turn a blind eye to the smuggling of flares into the biggest game on the football calendar

[Barto]

I'm looking on the bright side, if South have improved it puts Port closer to a spoon

[whufc]

How did Giles go?

[Big Phil]

How did Giles go?

Watched the tape of the game earlier today and thought he was okay but certainly not the best big man on the ground, I think that was South's Adam Cockshell.

Joffa's stats according to the Sunday Mail were:

Jonathon Giles:

5 kicks
4 handballs
3 marks
1 point
1 tackle
20 hitouts


I'm sure a Sturt or South fan that was actually at the game would be able to comment better, but that's his game according to the stats.

[Voice]

He was reasonaly quiet. Good in the hitouts but didn't do a hell of a lot around the ground. He wasn't alone though.

[CK]

For what its worth, thought Giles moved around the ground well (after some calf tightening early in the game) but almost seemed to be playing more of a follower/ruck rover role than a pure ruckman. Didn't really take contested marks and yes, Cockshell ran rings around him around the ground in field play. Sturt actually looked to have one too many rucks out there. While South were fairly short on genuine rucks, the Blues didn't really exploit this through their bigger men.

On Cockshell, I thought he was very good for South last year. If yesterday was any indication, there is still a lot more improvement to come and that must be very heartening to South fans. He was very dominant in all facets of the match, particularly his wholehearted attack on the ball.

[Big Phil]

For what its worth, thought Giles moved around the ground well (after some calf tightening early in the game) but almost seemed to be playing more of a follower/ruck rover role than a pure ruckman. Didn't really take contested marks and yes, Cockshell ran rings around him around the ground in field play. Sturt actually looked to have one too many rucks out there. While South were fairly short on genuine rucks, the Blues didn't really exploit this through their bigger men.

On Cockshell, I thought he was very good for South last year. If yesterday was any indication, there is still a lot more improvement to come and that must be very heartening to South fans. He was very dominant in all facets of the match, particularly his wholehearted attack on the ball.

Just needs to work on his media skills does Cockshell

[baysman]

Great to see Shaun Micallef mentioned seeing " The Divinyls " at South Adelaide Football Club in 1980 on " Talkin' Bout My Generation " tonight. Could he be a Panther supporter ? Better than Mike Rann ( IMHO ). Anyone know his SANFL preferences ?

[The Sleeping Giant]

Wouldn't think South can pick and choose their supporters.

[purch]

Personally think that any suggestion that the standard has dropped, based on this game, is premature*. Looked more a case of blowing out a few cobwebs with the first game of the year for premiership points, than any standard dropping.

Stayed back for presentations, Ron Fuller rightly said that the club was learning that accepting good efforts that didn't win the game, was not going to take them forward and looking around the room, the players certainly were hurting from the result.

The crowd was 2626, but looked to be more at times - certainly very vocal for both groups of supporters. In general, also, the umpires really let it flow and only paid the blatant frees on the day, allowing contested footy that probably would have been hit with frees and 50's in the AFL at times.

OK. The umps had good patches yesterday, sure, but they also had some woeful ones. Lets not mince words. From what I saw in the first half the umps were still in pre-season mode. Did they pay blatant frees? yes...good on them. Did they miss blantant frees? Yes...seriously it was a joke at times, for both teams. Did they pick out frees where none of us knew what they were for? Far too many IMO. If these frees were there then either their signalling of the type of infringement was woeful, or their interpretation of what happened bemused us all.

The thing that p1sse5 me off the most is the marking contest where someone has the sit, an opposition player backs into them, the player with the sit uses his side (not his hands!) to leverage his opponent under the ball, he takes the mark...but it is a free against.This is destroying our game, to the extent that wonderfully weighted kicks plus proper and LEGAL bodywork no longer exists...a sad day and something driven by the AFL I fear.

Luckily it didn't make a difference on the day, but it could have if South had kicked straight early.