Super SANFL Semi-Finals

Football Budget feature writer Steve Barrett rates the great first semi-final battles of SANFL history.

The Bays trailed at every change and did much less of the attacking but still prevailed by a whisker, keeping alive their dreams of a premiership threepeat.

The Magpies, who had 29 scoring shots to 21, were left to rue 19 misses – five of which struck the post.

Ten Port players registered more behinds than goals, including the normally-reliable Bruce Abernethy, whose miss at the 25-minute-mark of the fourth sealed the Pies’ fate.

Abernethy launched to within 45m of goal, directly in front and clear of the last Tiger defender, only to inexplicably spray his shot.

A goal would have put Port in front by five. Over the next five heart-stopping minutes, no more scores were registered, before the final siren drew the curtain on the Magpies’ season and club legend Russell Ebert’s reign as coach.

Barrie Robran, at the peak of his powers, dragged North out of an early jam before saving the day late.

The Roosters barely saw the footy for the first 15 minutes at The Parade and were outplayed for large patches of the opening half but remained afloat thanks to the brilliance of Robran (four goals, 33 disposals) at centre half-forward.

Norwood led by two points at the 26-minute-mark of the last quarter when Nigel Wark’s attempted clearing kick under pressure went out of bounds on the full.

Barry Stringer passed to an unattended Dennis Sachse, who booted his fourth major to put North in front.

Norwood tried to thrust the ball forward in the dying stages, when Robran recklessly plunged onto the boot of a Redlegs player, swatting the ball – and taking the Roosters – to safety.

The Redlegs defied a depleted bench and several challenges from the persistent Eagles to win a nail-biter.

Norwood led at every change but had just one fit player on the interchange bench after half-time and conceded the lead in the 11th minute of the fourth term when Eagles ruckman Paul Lindsay snapped truly.

Troy Clements, given the difficult assignment of tagging Justin Cicolella in the second half, not only curbed the star Eagle’s influence but put his team back in front when he evaded two tacklers and slotted through his fourth goal.

Redlegs coach Garry McIntosh successfully moved Stuart Bown into ruck to quell the dominant Lindsay and employed Steven Pitt as a loose man in defence.

The Eagles could have had a chance for an after-the-siren victory but Paul Allison spilled a chest mark with seconds left on the clock.

One-year wonder Fred Pemberton entered Tiger folklore and delivered Glenelg’s first finals triumph in six seasons when he slotted two goals in the last two-and-a-half minutes to pinch an improbable victory in this old-time classic.

The lead changed hands five times in an absorbing clash before the Double Blues looked to be gaining the upperhand, up by 11 points deep into the final quarter and the ball hemmed regularly in their attack.

Just as some fans started filing out, believing Sturt had booked a preliminary final berth, the ball escaped down the wing and into the Bays’ forward line where 36-year-old ‘rookie’ Pemberton, a St Kilda player a decade earlier, pouched a magnificent, diving mark and goaled.

From umpire Lawrie Sweeney’s next centre bounce, Glenelg burst forward again and Colin Richens’ floater was powerfully swallowed by pack-busting Pemberton, whose go-ahead major clinched an amazing one-point victory before he was chaired off Adelaide Oval.

Central’s David-over-Goliath 1971 first semi-final triumph over five-time reigning premier Sturt may be the Bulldogs’ greatest win outside grand finals but the ’94 edition was the heartstopper.

It also finally put a full stop on those ‘Doggywobble’ jibes as Central broke its 22-year winless finals curse which dated back to 1972.

A week after cruelly losing the qualifying final to Port in extra-time, the Dogs ambushed Norwood with seven of the first eight goals. Crows-listed Martin McKinnon booted three of them, his last one memorable as he weaved the ball through a narrow opening, deep in the left pocket.

The Legs mounted a sustained fightback and closed the margin to five points before being denied down the stretch by McKinnon.

The 19-year-old pulled down a crucial, third-in-line screamer of a defensive mark 40m from Norwood’s goals, before following up with a crushing last-gasp tackle on Redlegs rover Stephen Rowe.

For the last 20 goalless minutes, Central held on grimly, before celebrating emotionally, coach Alan Stewart admitting, “I carried on like an idiot for about 90 seconds”.

An after-the-bell goal – which should have been disallowed but controversially stood – saw eventual premier Torrens send North unluckily packing from the finals race.

Torrens streaked clear in the SANFL’s first post-war final, leading 6.10 to 1.0 at quarter-time, before North trimmed the margin to eight points at half-time and seven at the last break.

In a gripping second half, the Roosters, buoyed by Henry Lehmann’s six-goal haul, drew level deep into time-on in the fourth. With the scores tied and the ball in Torrens’ forward line, the final bell rang.

But umpire Ken Aplin, and many players, didn’t hear it due to the deafening noise of the excited crowd.

Play was allowed to continue in the seconds that followed, Torrens’ Victorian-born rover Jim Thoms booting the ball off the ground for his contentious fourth major. As a result of the incident, an electric siren was introduced in all subsequent seasons … while the Adelaide Oval bell was ripped off its base by angry North fans later that night.

The Warriors captured the imagination of the SA football public with their groundbreaking ’86 finals charge, highlighted by their stunning takedown of perennial powerhouse Port. Woodville shocked Norwood in the elimination final before having the bulk of the fever-pitched support of 39,066 fans the following week against the Magpies.

The Warriors looked more like the Woodpeckers of old when they crashed to a six-goal quarter-time deficit before mounting an incredible rearguard over the next 30 minutes. Captain Max Parker started to get on top in ruck, while Ron Fuller began dominating in the middle and Ralph Sewer was wreaking havoc.

After closing the gap to five points at half-time, Woodville withstood another Port purple patch to trail by six points at three-quarter-time. Malcolm Blight’s Warriors couldn’t be stopped in the fourth.

Andrew Taylor’s superb reflex major in the opening minute levelled the scores before Parker’s prodigious punt, Kevin Harris’s pack-busting 50m bomb and Stephen Nichols’ sublime snap over his left shoulder continued the Woodville fairytale.