Eagles v Panthers Hickinbothom oval Monday 8 th june

Eagles need to play 4 quarters this week

EAGLES
Woodville-West Torrens appears unlikely to change its squad ahead of its Monday clash with South at Hickinbotham Oval.
Coming off a solid win against Sturt last round, the Eagles have added Sam Rowland, Jackson Press, Matthew Appleton and Joe Sinor to their 25-man list.
All four players have been included on the extended interchange bench which will be trimmed by two tomorrow and two before the bounce on Monday.
Despite their solid form in the Reserves, Eagles coach Michael Godden would be reluctant to change his winning side as he attempts to settle on his preferred line-up.

League
F: N. Hayes, Thurlow, McGregor
HF: Lewis, Wundke, Poole
C: C. Hall, Petrenko, Allmond
HB: Martyn, Thompson, Goldsworthy
B: Jarrad, Raikiwasa, Giuffreda

R: Borholm, Rowntree, Boyd
INT: Ainger, Dunstan, Rowland, Batley, Sinor, Appleton, Press
IN: Rowland, Sinor, Appleton, Press

Reserves
F: J. Hayes, Heinjus, Firns
HF: Haylock, Von Bertouch, Minney
C: Westbrook, Elsworthy, M. Raymond
HB: Ellis, Templeton, Woods
B: Lloyd, Summerton, Blumson

R: Mullins, Enright, Gaffney
INT:

Under-18
Yarran, T. Stengle, Hall, Wallent, Comitogianni, Cardone, Wood, Atkins, Hayes, Jolly, Hedges, Georgeson, A. Stengle, Wilson, Hoyle, Lee, Slade, Miller, Broadwood, Slack, Traeger, Richards, Hoare, Baqeri, Polanski.

I'm thinking the eagles went in too tall against Sturt and one of our tall forwards may get dropped and a small come in .
Anyone else think this ?

Another good effort by the Eagles - in control for all but the first 10 mins when we could have been 4 goals down had South taken their easy chances.

Next match vs Crows is looming as the toughest for the year with the side that the Crows put up against Sturt being easily its strongest with Podsiadly, Douglas,Martin,Crouch,Lyons featuring. Bad time for the Eagles to lose Luke Thompson with the Crows playing Podsiadly and alternating Osborn (205cm) and big O'Brien in attack. would expect Douglas and Brad Crouch to be promoted to the Crows AFL team but their "fall-back" guys will be OK players too.
Should be a "cracker" match with the boys having to lift even to a higher level than their past few matches.

Is there a sense of de ja vu? This time last year we were 7-1 and in 2nd spot. Only team we hadn't played yet was the Crows reserves; they had players coming back into the side...

spell_check wrote:Is there a sense of de ja vu?  This time last year we were 7-1 and in 2nd spot.  Only team we hadn't played yet was the Crows reserves; they had players coming back into the side...

If it was me I'd like to make sure we dont lose to them again .
Will luke be ok in two weeks ?
We have Bobby this time as well him on Pods perhaps
They have a 200cm plus player we have a 200 cm plus player !!

Do we rotate Sinor into the league side ?

On the subject of 200cm plus players, since Fraser Thurlow has come into the side, Bomber is jumping better at ballups and more lively in attack. Makes sense when he now doesn't carry the workload singlehandedly. Good ruck combo. And Thurlow has now played only his 4th match since January so his match fitness is only coming up now and we might see better form. Already appreciate his strong body work and reach - he's getting his hands to marks but they're not sticking...........yet.

Agreed Premiers... which is why I mentioned earlier in the season (and got shot down) to not expect miracles straight away from Thurlow - initially just the help for Bomber would be great, then by mid-season we'd start to see the best of Thurlow and the combination between the 2.

As far as playing the Crows next... again agreed it will be a tough challenge with the Adelaide team getting back to full strength. No doubt we'll be going hell for leather for a win and I believe this current team can do it.

But I think the bigger challenge is how we respond in the weeks to follow, which I think was more disappointing last year than losing that first game to Adelaide. It was the first of 3 losses in a row, and only won 3 more games for the season.

Therefore Centrals, West and Sturt that follow the Crows will be season defining in terms of a top 3 finish, and will also determine the maturity of the 2015 group.

WOODVILLE-West Torrens improved its record to 7-1 at Noarlunga yesterday — identical to this time last year — but coach Michael Godden is convinced the club is far better placed.

The Eagles nosedived to a disappointing elimination final belting at the hands of the Panthers in 2014 but yesterday demonstrated how far they’d come when they controlled most of the contest against the same opponent.

Godden said year’s strong start masked issues at Oval Ave, the most pressing of which was its habit of leaking big scores. Today it kept an opponent goal-less for more than a half of football for the third week in succession and its back line is statistically better than Norwood’s renowned defence.

“We’re a better football team than last year,’’ Godden said. “I think we’re more mature. We can dictate to the opposition better and I think we can defend a lot better.

“Last year we got to 7-1 rolling the dice a bit more but this year we’re harder to play against.”


South Adelaide has now dropped three games on the trot and in many ways lost yesterday’s match in the first half of the opening quarter. The Panthers dominated early on, kicking with a strong breeze and had the first four shots of the match but couldn’t register a goal. The Eagles then went down the other end and kicked a goal through Lachlan McGregor and the Panthers played catch for the rest of the day.

The Eagles didn’t make the same mistake in the second term, banging through five majors to nil with the wind and suffocating the Panthers with their pressure.

Three of the goals came through turnovers and the Eagles pressure and ability to block South’s exits was impressive.

“Scoreboard pressure is just so important against good sides,’’ Panthers coach Brad Gotch said.

“We failed to put enough on and then through the second quarter we gave away three turnovers goals and part of that is because you’re trying to force something to happen through the corridor.”

South will be sweating on scans on the knee of forward Peter Rolfe with early fears he may have again ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament.

Still no word from Dobber? Just enjoying the wins maybe?

Columbo wrote:Still no word from Dobber? Just enjoying the wins maybe?

Showing his true colours now... and they ain't Gold Green and Blue!

Also, Angus Poole continues his fine form to fly in the face of a supporter who labelled he and Schwarz as "F graders"
Still, we musn't be childish. Just enjoy the success, forgive the comment and welcome "Mr Fuller" back to the fold.

With Eagles bye this week, I took the opportunity to watch the Eagles U18s play Westies at Woodville. As the U18s Premiership table indicated, Eagles were a class above Westies, not so much by individual talent but by excellent team play, good clean possession and foot skills. Surprising that the Eagles, as top side, only have possibly one in the State Team, 194cm forward Luke Hoare from Yorke Peninsula. Means that, for the 2nd consecutive year, we're unlikely to have anyone drafted.
Would expect that it will be our turn at the end of this season to endure other SANFL Clubs circling and picking up our Seconds and U18s. It would be a difficult job managing the Eagles U18 list deciding which players to keep and which to unfortunately discard with always the probability of an occasional mistake.
Interesting that there were 8 of the 21 U18 players from Clubs in our newly acquired Magpie zone. Some interesting names - Trevor Wanganeen from Salisbury West, Nick Yarran from St Marys (would have to be related to Carlton's Chris Yarran). Jake Comitogianni, a 67kg onballer made an impressive Seconds debut against North 3 weeks ago and again was impressive in the second half, after his 2 taggers ran out of puff or the Westies coach though it was ridiculous to continue thumping a 67kg kid while his team was being belted by 10 goals. Runs all day, Johnny Platten type, too light for 2016 but watch for him 2017 -he's good.

How did the Stengle brothers go yesterday Premiers?

Anthony Stengle, the older of the 2 brothers, was very good as a small HF. Kicked 6 goals and listed best player. Has footy "smarts". Elusive but ? his pace - might be quicker when he gets fitter. Don't want to say much on kids when they're just starting out.
Younger brother Tyson? Didn't notice him.
But almost every Eagles player looked very well drilled with clean skills. No standouts with explosive speed, leaping ability nor physique etc. Baqeri 194 cm and Broadwood 196 cm tallest and might make key position players. (tall forw Luke Hoare is with State side).