Live Scores - Finals Week 1

[UK Fan]

South vs north game was a cracking game!!!

Well played rooster fans onwards and upwards hopefully.

Hard luck panther fans imho you can be proud of your boys today. They had a crack.

[therisingblues]

Terrific game early. A lot of voice from the South and North fans.
As expected, most of them left for the second game, and a pretty disappointing crowd watched the second game.

Sturt forgot to bring thee intensity that earned them a finals spot, but the loss of Reily and Fraser Evans would push us that way I suppose. But we just looked flat otherwise.
I watched most of the game from the hill, and we had a loud, annoying Eagles mate who watched with us, and EVEN HE was at times mystified by the ride the Eagles seemed to be getting with the umps. Amongst the more blatant was an incident where Josh Hone had his head ripped off by one enthusiastic Eagle, and then ridden into the ground by another, and the decision: holding the ball! **** me up the ass with a banana! Late in the game I saw ponytail gifted a goal within 50 for what I figure was an interpreted push in the back? It looked innocuous to the naked eye and then they replayed it on the big screen, maybe I had too much to drink (indeed I am having trouble seeing the computer screen ATM) but I am sure there was not a softer free paid all day.
Anyway, we were very flat, and sloppy when we should not have been, but it is ****** watching an ump pimping himself to the Eagle with the biggest package the way they were today. My big sore loser attitude to one side, the Eagles were too strong for us today, and looked to have finally clicked to the idea that you play your best footy in the finals, and not the minor round.

North looked well oiled n the early game, if not a little inconsistent, and they would be the only obstacle in the way of a Norwood/ Eagles GF so far as I can see.
Sturt have had their run on today's outing. Too many players lost to the draft for the past 2/3 years and finally we were unable to replace them adequately. I reckon we are going out in straight sets. The joker in the pack is the Roosters, otherwise the Eagles and Norwood will play off in a cracker.

Finally... kudos to the mince heads at the SANFL brains trust for playing Finals on the Sunday father's day (many of our usual crew were absent because of family engagements) during the bye weekend of AFL when neither the Clowns nor the Puffs are involved anyway. I am sure the janitor who is in charge of buying Olsen's donuts will get an extra coffee allowance for coming up with that idea!

[Aerie]

I like Godden playing Stewart and Nick Hayes (and occasionally Jack too) at the centre bounce. Great to watch that commitment by the Eagles yesterday. Better conversion in front of goal will make it easier on themselves. Umpires hot on holding the ball for most of both games. Still like the finals at Adelaide Oval. Good atmosphere and plenty of space for the kids to kick the footy. Why not allow the kids to go on the ground at the breaks though?

[westcoastpanther]

I hate football

[Magellan]

Great win by the Roosters, especially to go in as underdogs against the side who knocked off the minor premiers the week before. Really good atmosphere as well, and the Roosters' banner looked fantastic (as usual), great work. Some great efforts under pressure by the rooster kids, Connor Rozee's mark in defense late in the last one shining example, as was Maris Olekaln's long bomb from 55 to give the chooks the lead. Max Thring also took a gutsy contested grab against the tide halfway through the last. Jordan Sweet continues to improve, and did well in giving Brooksby something to think about.

South had a real crack, and had their chances in the last if it weren't for some unforced errors and the efforts of the opposition. Now for an interesting match-up against Sturt. Not sure the double blues could play that badly two weeks in a row, but I think injuries might tell the tale in the final analysis. North will simply have a crack, full with confidence that they can match it with the sides who finished above them.

Stayed for all of the qualifying final, a very, very average spectacle as a neutral fan. It must surely rank as one of the worst on record in terms of standard. Umpiring bordered on ridiculous by the end, the 'push in the back' in the last that gave the Eagles the sealer was terrible on any part of the field, let alone in front of goal. That said, the umpiring didn't cost Sturt the game, the Eagles moved the ball more convincingly up the ground and played it to advantage more often. Sturt looked a bit disinterested and lacked the real urgency required for a final - I suspect that might change over the next week.

I missed the crowd attendance figure - how many turned up?

[Magellan]

Well done North although I don’t think they would’ve installed any fear into Sturt or the Eagles

Hopefully Sturt share your sentiments.

Not sure they would've been so bolshy about their chances at 5:30pm yesterday arvo, though.

[saintal]

The gap between South’s best and worst this season has been relatively small, with the exception of yesterday..

Failed to convert early dominance, couldn’t stem a 15 minute onslaught in the second, dug in and got back on top in third but again didn’t fully capitalise late, and the last quarter was marred with skill errors and questionable decision making.

Was a good game to watch overall with plenty of niggle, with North deserved victors.

Cross, Fields, Davis, Haines among our best. Didn’t get full advantage from the Brooksby v Sweet match up, while young Kappler will be lamenting 3-4 moments in the second half. He’s not alone there though.

It was a season that started with fairly modest expectations, but again it was disheartening that we couldn't play our best footy when it mattered. Chalk this one up as another opportunity squandered since 2014. 4 straight finals defeats now.

8632 the crowd. Was a good atmosphere along the western wing.

[woodublieve12]

Any truth to the rumour of the north coach striking a south player going into the 3/4 time huddle???

Disgrace if true...

[scott]

Any truth to the rumour of the north coach striking a south player going into the 3/4 time huddle???

Disgrace if true...

Hard to tell on the digital pass as a graphic pops up in the way but looks like Crossy and Josh Carr had words to say.

[scott]

Heard this odd fact from the 2nd game this morning.

Sturt laid 101 tackles and received only 1 holding the ball free. Eagles laid 86 tackles and received 10.

[northerner]

I like Godden playing Stewart and Nick Hayes (and occasionally Jack too) at the centre bounce. Great to watch that commitment by the Eagles yesterday. Better conversion in front of goal will make it easier on themselves. Umpires hot on holding the ball for most of both games. Still like the finals at Adelaide Oval. Good atmosphere and plenty of space for the kids to kick the footy. Why not allow the kids to go on the ground at the breaks though?

I saw this ploy against the Dogs last week. It threw a different look and added big bodies around clearances. Big wrap for the Hayes lads, always do well against us, but maybe just needing to be more consistent? 183cm+ dudes who run and take a decent grab but are not deemed good enough for AFL are a boon for any Club.

[woodublieve12]

Typical Norf behaviour

[southee]

Questions might want to be asked more so over the North runner pushing Ben Haren in 2nd quarter.

Disgraceful!

[Magellan]

Typical Norf behaviour

Yep, we're the only club to have an allegation levelled against the coach.

I think it started back in the 80s when Ralphie the Rumour-Monger on 5AA said he heard Mike Nunan got into a punch-up with an garden gnome at the Banner Hardware store at NorthPark shopping centre.

[Wedgie]

Questions might want to be asked more so over the North runner pushing Ben Haren in 2nd quarter.

Disgraceful!

At least that one happened! It'll be interesting to see if the SANFL find it was deliberate or accidental.

[Booney]

Typical Norf behaviour

Yep, we're the only club to have an allegation levelled against the coach.

I think it started back in the 80s when Ralphie the Rumour-Monger on 5AA said he heard Mike Nunan got into a punch-up with an garden gnome at the Banner Hardware store at NorthPark shopping centre.

Gnome wins, every time.

[southee]

Questions might want to be asked more so over the North runner pushing Ben Haren in 2nd quarter.

Disgraceful!

At least that one happened! It'll be interesting to see if the SANFL find it was deliberate or accidental.

We will see ...

[CUTTERMAN]

Heard this odd fact from the 2nd game this morning.

Sturt laid 101 tackles and received only 1 holding the ball free. Eagles laid 86 tackles and received 10.

Glad this backs up what I thought on the day. Three glaring high tackles that weren’t paid, two in our F50 that were deemed HTB, the last free and resulting goal to WWT pretty well summed up the umpiring for the whole game.

[CUTTERMAN]

Any truth to the rumour of the north coach striking a south player going into the 3/4 time huddle???

Disgrace if true...

We were in the SW pocket and definitely saw a North runner grab/push a South player during one of the many scuffles. The umpire saw it and I was amazed no free or 25m was paid.

[gadj1976]

Heard this odd fact from the 2nd game this morning.

Sturt laid 101 tackles and received only 1 holding the ball free. Eagles laid 86 tackles and received 10.

FWIW, I don't think many more of those 101 should've been holding the ball. There was one or two that were glaringly obvious (Poole on the edge of the goalsquare) but I think the true story was told by our inability to win more clearances.