Round 1 South v WWT

[ferret]

A great team effort from the "Eagles" yesterday.
I thought we might have been undermanned with Kobe Mutch, Cam Fleeton, Adam D'Aloia, Zane Williams, Jett Hasting, Will Pearce, Patrick Weckert and Jake Andrews missing, but our new recruits and improvement from our younger players covered injuries admirably.
Grace, Montgomery and Clohesy were outstanding in their first games for the "Eagles"
I thought we slaughtered South at ground level and with a lot better team game left South with no chance.
Let's hope this encouraging performance can be maintained.

[stampy]

keen for a souf perspective, where are they??

[blueandwhite]

Supported the club since I was an itch in my ol mans trousers.
There have been some pretty dark days in that time. Yesterday was one of the most disappointing.
Just did not work hard enough, chase hard enough or tackle hard enough. Many just thought it would happen. It clearly did not.
Injury concerns losing Verrall in the last trial and Skinner with what looked like a long term injury early in the game yesterday.

The club marks its 150th year on Friday V Port.
Long suffering supporters need and deserve to see a response after yesterdays debacle.

[wedgetail]

A great team effort from the "Eagles" yesterday.
I thought we might have been undermanned with Kobe Mutch, Cam Fleeton, Adam D'Aloia, Zane Williams, Jett Hasting, Will Pearce, Patrick Weckert and Jake Andrews missing, but our new recruits and improvement from our younger players covered injuries admirably.
Grace, Montgomery and Clohesy were outstanding in their first games for the "Eagles"
I thought we slaughtered South at ground level and with a lot better team game left South with no chance.
Let's hope this encouraging performance can be maintained.

In addition to this, to win convincingly without having to use Sinor or Rowe on the ball was a major plus. Grace and Montgomery, both being left footers have added a different dynamic than in the past exiting defence. Beattie looks back to his first year form which caught the eye of the Dockers.
The victory would have been greater if Ballenden had converted some of his simple shots for goals.

[PatowalongaPirate]

Woodville-West Torrens reminded the competition what it can do with a healthy list when it eclipsed South Adelaide with ease to post a 52-point win at Magain Stadium.

Ravaged by injury in the second half of the 2025 campaign, the Eagles showed why they could climb back into the top five if they can keep their stars out of the casualty ward.

Bursting out of the blocks to boot the first six goals of the contest, the visitors didn’t concede a major to the Panthers until Ben Shillabeer kicked truly in the 19th minute of the second term.

Sam Jacobs’ charges continued their dominance throughout the afternoon as they racked up 90 more disposals and 27 more marks to control the tempo whilst securing the premiership points.

North Shore Bombers signing Ethan Grace impressed in his first game for the Eagles with 31 disposals and six marks but it was classy Max Beattie who enjoyed a day out on foreign soil.

Racking up 30 disposals, including 21 kicks, Beattie also slammed through five goals including a contender for Channel 7 Goal of the Week with a checkside finish in traffic.

Emerging young Eagle Jack Cook chalked up 27 disposals while recruits Harper Montgomery (25 disposals) and Ted Clohesy (24 disposals, one goal) impressed in their first games for the club as Sam Nicholls made the most of his chances to boot four majors.

South trio Phoenix Hargrave (26 disposals), Oliver Davis (25 disposals) and West Coast WAFL recruit Harley Sparks (26 disposals) all fought hard against the tide as Eamon Wilkinson and Shillabeer booted two goals each.

By Zac Milbank.

[wenchbarwer]

Not really suprised at the result but definitely the margin.
I honestly didn’t see the hype with Souths list and had them in the bottom 3 this year

They've got some very good pick ups, but they're all young, lacking that mid tier group.

[whybother]

But they really didn't need any more "oldies"...got Hayes x2, Ballenden, Senior, Rowland, Rowe

[wenchbarwer]

But they really didn't need any more "oldies"...got Hayes x2, Ballenden, Senior, Rowland, Rowe

I'm talking about South

[whybother]

Sorry, old age

[Backman]

Very disapponting, perhaps newer players didn't quite realise the intensity of a good SANFL side
No excuses, but Eagles did have 5 players 30 plus age, plus Ballendan and Rowe
South no 30 year olds, but had Skinner(injured early), plus Clavarino, Wilkinson and Dunkin 25 plus
Lots of younger talent at South, these re-builds often take a year or two longer than everyone thinks/hopes
I still think South should have a reasonable year, plenty of depth in Reserves

[ferret]

Although it might seem Rowe and Ballenden have been around for quite some time, they are both only 26 y.o.
The upside for the Eagles squad is the relatively young age of our better core players. Jack Cook (18), Kade Herbert, Jett Hasting (19), Jake Andrews (20), Clohesy, D'Aloia, Pedler, Montgomery, Weckert (21), Grace, Beattie, Lukas Cooke, Nicholls, Puncher (22). Litster, Lukac, Fleeton, Pearce (23), Williams, Sladojevic, Moore (24). Our depth is improving. The big need is for another ruckman to give the undersized Lukac some relief. Lukac could quite easily become a productive tall back or forward.

[saintal]

Nothing much to add that hasn't already been said from a South perspective. First 10 mins were 'okay', and we had the bulk of the early forward forays. But once the Eagles got 2-3 majors on the board it all became far too easy.

Lost track of how many times a South bloke was caught HTB. Hargrave one of a few who played with the necessary intensity.

Yes it's only round 1, but the usual headache of scoring more than 8-10 goals doesn't seem to have been resolved. Skinner listed to return in round 7, which wont help.

Looking forward to seeing them in the flesh for the first time on Good Friday.

[spyace]

keen for a souf perspective, where are they??

One of the most insipid performances from a South side that I have ever witnessed live, beating out our shameful effort in Round 10 against Norwood last year. Jay Chapman had the most disposals at halftime because he was doing the kick-outs. He suffered a season-ending knee injury and was still in the top 10 at the end of the game.

We kept kicking or handballing to Eagles players, or if we did get it to a South player, we made sure to wait until two Eagles players were nearby and get pinged for holding the ball. In the stoppages, we loved trying to have three guys tackle one Eagles player, only for the ball to squeeze out and Eagles to run away comfortably. High, looping handballs or kicks to South players to make it as difficult as possible for us to take clean possession of the ball, and the obligatory "being within three or so metres of your opponent counts as being on them, right? Oh dear, they have sprinted well clear of me and now they have the ball and they have kicked a goal. Darn." And who can forget the Old Classic: Trying to start fights in an effort to get a bit of a spark going, but then failing to follow it up with decent football and conceding more goals.

I'm not sure if the selectors would be willing to swing the axe aggressively after Round One, but after two years of hard slog that was all aimed at making this season a success, it might be the only way to instil into the players what is required at league level and what is required to make the club competitive once again. On paper, the recruits looked excellent, and our returning players seemed hungry and determined. And then the game started... and an all too familiar reminder of what Panthers Football has been like over the last few years.

The only highlight was watching Lukas Cooke trying to bump Max Clifton and fail (Cooke is about 25cm taller than him), only for Max to return serve and come out on top. Every game I have seen Cooke play, he is always trying to hit or bump other players off the ball, which is baffling, as he is too slightly built to have any impact.