GLENELG continued to smash a trail of destruction through the SANFL with an 84-point thrashing of Norwood at The Parade last night. Norwood kicked just 1.3 - nine points.

The Tigers embarrassed the Redlegs with an emphatic display of high-class team football to claim their seventh successive victory.

The triumph saw Glenelg replace Sturt at the top of the table, stamping it as the most potent machine in the competition after nine rounds.

Such was Glenelg's dominance, the Redlegs were kept to a disgraceful 1.3 – one goal and three behinds in four quarters of action. They failed to score in two quarters.

Glenelg's relentless style of football, so typical of the club this season, stretched into last night and this time it was the Redlegs put on notice early.

This Tigers outfit is honest, disciplined and extremely hard-working and all its strengths were on display last night.

The Redlegs were dealt a huge blow in the opening minutes when talented midfielder David Trotter, a late withdrawal from last week's win over North Adelaide, was forced from the field with a recurrence of a hamstring injury.

Glenelg was ferocious at the contest and just kept charging into the fray in pursuit of the ball.

And when it did not have possession, its tackling and harassment was desperate.

Tigers coach Mark Mickan has installed tremendous discipline and belief into the side and it produced an impressive advertisement of team football.

The hunger of the Tigers and their will to succeed dominated the battle, constantly putting Norwood under pressure.

They pushed the ball forward in numbers before bombing the ball confidently deep into attack searching for tall targets.

So committed was Glenelg to the task, Norwood was restricted to just 23 kicks and kept scoreless for the opening term. Norwood lifted the intensity after quarter-time but the Bays had all the answers.

It took the home side 10 minutes into the second period before Sam Rowe nailed its only goal.

Despite the Redlegs' Bryce Campbell doing a stout tagging role on Adam Fisher, Glenelg had far too many damaging weapons, too much class and too much desire for its opponent.

Rarely did the Redlegs venture into their attacking 50m, with the forwards starved of opportunities. And when they did go into attack, the Glenelg defence swarmed from everywhere to shut down any danger. After finally qualifying for the finals last season, the Tigers want to take their game to new levels and they are not satisfied with just winning.

They refused to take the foot off the throat of the Redlegs and pounded away at the opposition.

CROWD: 5768 at Coopers Stadium

GLENELG 3.4 5.7 11.11 13.15 93

NORWOOD 0.0 1.1 1.3 1.3  9

BEST: Holmes, Bode, Murphy, Grima, Cranston, Allen, Sugars.

SCORERS: Grima, McConnell 3.1, Holmes 2.1, Bode 2.0, Kirkby 1.2, Fisher, Sellar 1.1, Hinge 0.2, Kane 0.1, rushed 0.5.

 INJURIES: Grima (knee).

BEST: Campbell, Lower.

SCORERS: Rowe 1.0, Culpitt, Walker, Donohue 0.1.

INJURIES: Trotter (hamstring).

UMPIRES: M. Avon, C. Bowen, T. Dey.

RESERVES

GLENELG 2.1 4.3 10.7 15.9 (99)

 NORWOOD 3.3 6.9 10.11 11.13 (79)

 BEST – Glenelg: Horan, Guilhaus, Liebelt, McGregor, C. Kane. Norwood: DeVries, Thomas, Kirwan, Holm, Coombes, Brunoli.

GOALS – Glenelg: McGregor 5, Sundquist 2, Adlington, Carey, Fosdike, Graham, Horan, C. Kane, Lewis, Plant. Norwood: DeVries 4, Brunoli, Skinner 2, Bartemucci, Farmer, Rossi.

Courtesy of The Advertiser
Story by Warren Partland

« back