South Adelaide has opened their SANFLW League season with a comfortable 26-point win over Norwood, leading from start to finish.

The occasion was marked by three-time Premiership player Nikki Nield and 2024 Premiership player and best on ground Jordann Rugless raising the 2025 Premiership flag in front of the home crowd before the bounce.

Running out in the blue and white for the first time, Madison Brown (#132), Jess Chyer (#133) and Chanel May (#134) made their Panthers debuts during the match, while Emily Brockhurst celebrated her 50th SANFLW League game.

Mel Anderson got proceedings underway, with co-captain Lauren Clifton winning the ground ball and setting up a run for Anderson into an open goal after a period of forward momentum for the Redlegs.

Doreena Hansen put in a gutsy double effort on the wing, which saw the ball end up with Holly Ifould, but she was bumped off her kick as the ball went through for a behind.

That behind emphasised the gap in forward efficiency between the two sides, with South Adelaide converting both of their inside 50 entries to that point into scores, while Norwood were held scoreless despite registering 12 inside 50s by the quarter time siren.

The game opened up for the Panthers in the second term, breaking the contest apart through a dominant four-goal burst in under ten minutes of game time.

It started with Hansen, who took a strong contested mark on her opponent, the assist provided again by Clifton, breezing past to kick the second goal.

A highlight came through McLaren Districts product Chanel May, kicking her first SANFLW League goal after 50-gamer Brockhurst never gave up on the ball.

From the ensuing centre ball up, Brown and Layla Vizgaudis combined to win the clearance, with Brockhurst running onto the loose ball over the back and finishing the play on advantage with a goal.

Hope Taylor then cleverly tapped the ball over Norwood’s Sarah Branford, allowing the debutant May to volley it out of mid-air on the goal line in spectacular fashion, with the Panthers extending their lead to 34-0.

Though Elle Lineage managed to pinch one back for the Redlegs in the quarter, the damage had already been done, with just the one goal after half-time.

South Adelaide kicked five behinds in the final quarter but saw out the win, the tackle count proving to be a telling statistic as the Panthers recorded 85-58, consistently hunting the ball in packs.

Norwood had no answer for Soriah Moon in the ruck, who led the way with 24 disposals, six marks, seven clearances and 18 hitouts.

Esther Schirmer toiled hard all afternoon with 19 disposals, six tackles and five clearances.

Vizgaudis finished with 22 disposals and seven clearances, while debutant Brown impressed with 19 disposals and five inside 50s, also leading the tackles for the team with nine.

Fellow first gamers Jess Chyer provided support for Moon in the ruck, while Chanel May ended with 12 disposals and two superb second quarter goals.

South Adelaide will now travel up to X Convenience Oval for Round 2 to take on Central District on Saturday, 25^th April (ANZAC Day) at 2:50pm.