South’s 156pts win – Schorn bags 15

NORTH V WEST

North celebrated the club’s Old Timers weekend with a 24-point win over West at Jubilee Oval as the two teams wrestle back-and-forth for second and third spot on the ladder.

This match-up was a tough, physical, and brutal encounter, though it was the Bulldogs who held an edge all game, hitting the scoreboard when they needed to.

Even when the Bulldogs were pressed in the final quarter by a resilient Robins outfit, the side held firm in a pulsating contest.

Jayden Kelly and Cooper Oates led the way for North in front of the goals, kicking four apiece, as Ethan Harvey-Hocking also kicked two goals for the game. West had five players kicking two goals each, including vice-captain Daniel Milne and Norwood SANFL duo Harper Bromson and Jackson Savage.

“The game had a lot of intensity. Both teams brought a lot of intensity and it showed the true character for both teams. I thought they played for their clubs, also played for each other and that probably showed,” North coach, Mark Pitt, told us.

“We managed to stop West’s run here and there and we started getting some good bursts of footy as well. We managed to be able to carry it out for a longer period of time. Credit to West because they came back and brought a lot of heat and got themselves back into the game, but I thought there was a couple of good players in our side that were the difference too.”

West coach, Nathan Pearce, said a five-minute lapse before half-time where North kicked four consecutive goals wasn’t ideal, but praised his side for an even contest in the second half, adding, “once again, it was just another week where we sit there and have that little lapse that allows teams to score against us and it hurts us”.

Goals: Jayden Kelly (North), Cooper Oates (North) 4

 CENTRAL V SOUTH

South has etched itself into this year’s A-Grade Grand Final after a bulldozing 156-point win over last year’s fellow Grand Finallists, Central, at Memorial Oval on the weekend. The result sees the Roos’ points tally to a total where neither side can catch up, marking another year the side will play in the decider.

The weekend game did begin as a tight affair with Central’s gamestyle resulting in an early goal – the third of the game. But South proved too strong for the rest of the match, getting first use at the stoppages and using the overlap to move forward at a rampant pace and hit the scoreboard.

Cody Schorn starred again for South, bettering his 12-goal showing from last week and kicking 15 goals this week, including 10 in the second half alone. The next best goalkicker for the match was South’s Simon O’Brien, and the victors had another eight players hit the scoreboard with a goal each. Luke Barnes was Central’s lone goalkicker.

“I was happy with our overall performance over the four quarters,” South coach, Craig Thomas, told us.

“We found our groove pretty quickly. Our centre clearance work was exceptional on Saturday, we moved the ball really fast out of there, we got separation pretty quickly, our forwards went to work and did what our forwards did, and we set up pretty well behind the ball”.

“We just want to keep working on what we’re doing and get better at that.”

“We’ve always had our eye on the prize to first off make the Grand Final and once we established that, then we just want to get better at what we’re doing. Simple. We just want to keep working on what we’re doing and get better at that and make sure that come finals time that this side is ready to go. Leading into the finals is exactly the right time for us to get it right and we showed a lot of signs on Saturday.”

Central coach, Sheldon Hall, said he thought the side’s first quarter was good, it was turnovers that proved costly, telling us, “when we turned the ball over, South scored very quickly. But I felt like we controlled the ball, controlled the game, for a good majority of the quarter. We were a lot better and probably just when we did go forward, we didn’t get that reward for effort”.

Goals: Cody Schorn (South) 15, Simon O’Brien (South) 2

This Saturday – West and Central at Jubilee Oval, South and North at Alma Oval. Both fixtures underway at 2.30pm.