Round 3 Hostplus SANFL Snapshot – Anzac Eve

Change is happening at Glenelg.

Incoming coach Darren Reeves made no secret his intent to implement a more direct and attacking gameplan at Brighton Road this season.

And on Anzac Eve, it certainly took its first scalp when the Bays ran over the top of Woodville-West Torrens by 48 points at Stratarama Stadium.

With a heavy kick-to-handball ratio, the Tigers banged on seven of the final eight goals of the game in front of a delighted crowd of 4521 under lights.

Finishing with a commanding inside 50 count of 60 to the Eagles’ 41, Glenelg’s evolving style of play was illustrated by it having 219 kicks and 122 handballs.

In contrast, the visitors tallied 174 kicks and 143 handballs while also having 34 fewer marks as they chased the Bays’ ball movement by foot.

A significant amount of Glenelg’s attack was built from the back, with captain Max Proud outstanding with 22 disposals and 11 marks while fellow talls Brodie Newman and Toby Pink – who kept Ken Farmer Medallist Daniel Menzel to four disposals – also controlled the air.

Darcy Bailey (21 kicks) sparked plenty of forward forays from defence while Luke Partington led the way through the midfield with 28 disposals and six tackles as clearance-king Brett Turner was a late withdrawal before the bounce.

Reeves’ mandate to push the ball forward with more speed by foot is understandable considering the likes of Lachie Hosie (5.1) and Luke Reynolds (3.3) were lurking inside 50m as nine Tigers registered their names on the goal kickers list.

Even with triple Ken Farmer Medallist Liam McBean having a quiet night with a solitary major, the hosts still looked dangerous as the likes of James Bell, Matt Allen, Corey Lyons and 50-gamer Billy Stretch also hit the scoreboard.

The Eagles had several players fronting up for their first outing of the season, with Riley Knight, Rory Lehmann, Jimmy Toumpas and recruits Riley Collier-Dawkins and David Brinker-Ritchie coming into the side as Lukas Cooke made his League debut.

After leading by seven points at the first change, the visitors threatened to run away with things as Connor Ballenden kicked truly to open up a 15-point lead nearly 10 minutes into the second stanza.

But as much as the inform Mitch Hardie (35 disposals, eight clearances) continued to will his side forward, it wasn’t enough as the Tigers took control.

Knight impressed on return with 26 disposals while James Rowe rarely wasted any of his 25 touches playing chiefly through the middle of the ground.