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Orthopaedics SA Under-18s Match Report

South Adelaide vs West Adelaide
Preliminary Final - Adelaide Oval - 08/09/19

Goals: Sladojevic, Horne 3, Hamilton, Ryan 2, Cook, Clifton, Roberts, Riddle, Sweetman, Draper
Best: Horne, Freitag, Kernahan, Kraemer, Hamilton, Roberts

The South Adelaide U18s book themselves into their second straight Grand Final after a strong 25-point victory over West Adelaide at Adelaide Oval on Sunday.

The Panthers set up the 16.4 (100) to 11.9 (75) thanks to a dominate second quarter that saw South Adelaide boot seven goals to West Adelaide's two goals.

However, the the Bloods looked to have the ascendency early as they kicked the first goal of the game after just thirty seconds of play.

It wasn't until Matthew Roberts (19 disposals) kicked truly at the fifth minute mark to give the Panthers their first major of the game.

Not long after that, Mitchell Riddle (11 disposals) and Jason Horne (24 disposals and seven clearances) were also on the board with their first goals of the match as the Panthers began to take control.

Meanwhile, Nicholas Kraemer was busy around the ground; he would go on to finish the match with 21 disposals as well as six tackles and six clearances.

West Adelaide did strike back mid-way through the first quarter, but Horne was able to reply with his second goal to send the Panthers into the first break with a 4.3 (27) to 3.1 (19) lead.

The Panthers continued to make the most of their momentum in the second quarter; with Horne kicking his third goal of the match after just forty seconds of play.

Once again, West Adelaide struck back but Daniel Sladojevic (16 disposals and three marks), Max Clifton (14 disposals and two clearances) and Liam Hamilton (15 disposals) all combined to kick three unanswered goals for the Panthers in just five minutes.

Arlo Draper (13 disposals) also followed with his first of the game before back to back goals by Benjamin Ryan (seven disposals) in the dying stages of the quarter saw the Panthers go into the main break with a strong 11.3 (69) to 5.3 (33) lead.

Coming out after the main break; the Panthers needed one more solid half of football to secure their spot in the big dance.

Matt Roberts kicks a much needed goal early in the piece. Image Nick Hook Photography. 

The third quarter however saw the game slow down; as Sladojevic booted two goals in the first ten minutes and that would be the last Panther score until Wade Sweetman (15 disposals and eight tackles) kicked truly at the seventeenth minute mark of the third.

But West Adelaide would not go down without a fight as they quickly kicked two goals in just over a minute to cut the Panthers lead to 34 at the final change.

The Bloods continued with this momentum in the final quarter; booting three unanswered goals in the first ten minutes to create a chance of a comeback.

However, the Panthers were able to steady with Hamilton booting his second goal of the game and a late goal by Brayden Cook (ten disposals) all but sealed the win for the Panthers.

The 25-point Panther win sees a rematch of last years Grand Final as South Adelaide once again faces the Eagles in the big dance.

Grand Final
South Adelaide vs Eagles
Adelaide Oval - Sunday September 15 @ 12:10 pm

Max a tax deductible donations to the South Adelaide Junior Development Fund!