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The following information is provided by Phillip Monk [moustrap@camtech.net.au], and is updated here after the weekends games. All credit for this information goes to Phillip and is being used with permission.
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| EAGLES | 4.0 | 7.3 | 12.8 | 17.11 113 |
| Central | 2.2 | 2.3 | 5.4 | 10.4 64 |
Central have completed the ultimate season of cosmic balance by finishing with 10 wins and 10 losses, 1658 points for and 1658 points against. Om. Given that record you might expect them to finish in the middle, ie 5th spot. No, because this years competition contained two dud teams (South and North) who only won four matches out of 40 (and only two out of 36 against non-dud opponents), Central finished seventh, thus destroying the balance. Anyway, the reason they finished with that record was due to a clinical 49-point defeat they were handed by a finals-bound Eagles. The Eagles already had a double-chance virtually sewn up before the game but made a certainty of it and eventually tested Port's grip on the minor premiership, which wasn't decided until Sunday afternoon, not three weeks ago as the innumerate media were claiming.
Central, needing a win to have any hope of a finals spot, started with the wind and kicked the first two goals of the match but didn't score another for two quarters as the Eagles gained the ascendancy through Adam Pearce, Matthew Whelan and Justin Cicolella in the midfield. Chris and Matthew Kluzek finished off the work up forward as the Eeegs slotted the next eight goals. John McCarthy and Andrew Rogers led a WWT back-line that effectively snuffed out all attacks. Although Scott Lee quickly kicked the next two goals half way through the third term to give the Bulldogs a rough sort of chance they never really threatened thereafter and the only question was how much the Eagles would win by.
Chris Kluzek with four and Matthew Kluzek with three starred up forward for Woodville-West Torrens while a host of others chipped in with goals. Evergreen Scott Lee kicked three and Coulter two for the Dogs. The Eagles now look forward to a Qualifying final clash with Glenelg, who they've lost to three times this year, half their total losses for the season.
Saturday 4 September
At Richmond Oval
| GLENELG | 1.6 | 2.9 | 4.13 | 7.17 59 |
| West | 1.5 | 3.7 | 4.9 | 5.11 41 |
Glenelg kept its part of the bargain in search of the double chance by clawing past West Adelaide by three goals in a rain and wind affected encounter at Richmond. The Tigers' eventually retained third position after Sturt's loss on Sunday to Port. West needed to win to have any hope of making the finals but it turned out to be academic anyway after Norwood rolled South on Sunday. West's Paul Patterson played his 200th (and last) game for West. Anthony Banik is also leaving the Blood and Tars after playing his 100th game. Glenelg's Alan Bartlett played his 200th game.
The game never reached any great heights and was dominated by a strong cross-breeze which made kicking for goal extremely difficult. Glenelg were a little more direct in their movement of the ball while the Bloods tended to go too wide. West did have an advantage in ruck where Mark Stewart dominated the ball-ups against fill-in Glenelg rucks Simon Nicholas and Damien Gigney, however this was countered by Glenelg's harder working midfield of Chigwidden, Raidis, Carr and Higgins. Adam Richardson also wasted a lot of opportunities, kicking 3.5, curiously kicking more accurately when on an acute angle than dead in front.
For the Tigers McEntee, Scripps and Higgins each kicked two goals. McEntee is good to watch, he tries to take a big screamer every time the ball is kicked near him, and was often double-teamed here. Matthew Bode kicked 0.4. For the Bloods Richardson was their forward line, Stewart won a heap of ruck contests while Andriske and Bruhn were two of their better midfielders. Glenelg now look forward to the finals with Rod Jameson, Chad Cornes and Matthew Golding available. West's Michael Taylor was disappointed with the effort his charges put up, and their season in general. "I thought the incentive was there for them to win. Patto's 200th and Banik's 100th and the chance to play in finals. Going from third last year to where we are... you can make a lot of excuses but the facts are we won 10 and lost 10. That's disappointing."
Sunday 5 September
At Alberton Oval
| PORT | 4.3 | 8.7 | 11.11 | 11.13 79 |
| Sturt | 1.3 | 2.5 | 3.8 | 8.9 57 |
Port won their crucial battle with Sturt to win the minor premiership, while the Double Blues now face a knockout clash with Norwood, who've given them a bit of trouble this year. Like the other two Port-Sturt matches this year Port raced out to a big lead which they seemed happy to sit on in the last quarter when Sturt stormed home, ultimately leaving their run far too late.
Sturt's problems began in the middle where their star midfielders in Weatherald, Geddes and Squire were all missing while Atkinson played with a hernia. Port's O'Loughlin, Fraser and Bamford had a field day and gave Sam Phillipou plenty of chances up forward. Sturt's anaemic forward line was starved of possession and wasn't helped when gun forward Julian Burton was strechered off in the third quarter with a broken nose, ending his chances of winning the Ken Farmer Medal for the leading goalkicker, which he led for most of the year.
The same old hands were best for Port, Brian Leys and Nigel Fiegert are the keys to Port's defence and once again they were too good for their opponents. Ricky O'Loughlin showed lots of class while David Brown lent experience in the middle. Phillipou kicked three while McGuinness and Morgan kicked two for the Magpies. Seamus Maloney was playing a lone hand in the middle trying to stop the flow of Port attacks, best of the rest was amazingly Atkinson who still had 27 possessions. White, Kennett, Lennon and Woosnam all kicked two goals for Sturt, most of them after Port, with top-spot assured, had switched off.
At Noarlunga Oval
| NORWOOD | 5.2 | 8.5 | 17.6 | 19.8 122 |
| South | 5.1 | 10.2 | 11.4 | 15.8 98 |
Events elsewhere had already assured Norwood fifth spot by the time this game started, so it became a bit of a scratch match without the usual pressure of a regular fixture. South at least had a dip, but made far too many skill errors to expect victory.
South actually led by nine points at half-time thanks to the superior work rate of Nathan Genovese, basketballer Dean Brogan, David Morgan and Michael Doughty against more highly rated opponents. Norwood then unkindly killed off the contest by blasting through 9.1 to 1.2 in an overdue demonstration of the true difference in skill.
The 'Legs will at least go into next week's Sturt game with the confidence that kicking 19 goals, albeit against weak opposition, brings. Giant forward Andrew Pascoe kicked seven, while Bassett and Warrior each kicked four and Scott Direen three. Jonathon Yerbury had the better of his ruck duel with Simon Crawshay. Ben Kemp and Hamish Tamlyn were also busy in the midfield. Dean Talbot kicked four while Crawshay, Draper and Hams all kicked two for the Panthers. Norwood will welcome back James Thiessen and Roger James for the finals.
North had the bye.
Premiership Table
| Played | Won | Lost | Drawn | For | Against | Percentage | Points | |
| PORT | 20 | 15 | 5 | 0 | 1701 | 1397 | 54.91 | 30 |
| EAGLES | 20 | 14 | 6 | 0 | 1724 | 1445 | 54.40 | 28 |
| GLENELG | 20 | 13 | 7 | 0 | 1585 | 1360 | 53.82 | 26 |
| STURT | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 1715 | 1482 | 53.64 | 24 |
| NORWOOD | 20 | 12 | 8 | 0 | 1699 | 1582 | 51.78 | 24 |
| West | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 1743 | 1575 | 52.53 | 20 |
| Central | 20 | 10 | 10 | 0 | 1658 | 1658 | 50.00 | 20 |
| South | 20 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 1475 | 1991 | 42.56 | 4 |
| North | 20 | 2 | 18 | 0 | 1307 | 2117 | 38.17 | 4 |
Leading Goalkickers
| A Richardson (Ken Farmer Medallist) | West | 66 |
| J Burton | Sturt | 62 |
| D Hams | South | 43 |
| G Mellor | West | 42 |
| M Pavlich | Eagles | 37 |
| R Neill (not the Bob Neil) | Norwood | 36 |
| P Evans | Port | 32 |
| D Myles | West | 31 |
Next Week - Finals
Sunday 12 September
Elimination Final: Sturt v Norwood
(Football Park, 12:30pm)
Qualifying Final: Eagles v Glenelg (Football Park, 3:20pm)
The official SANFL web site is located at: http://www.sanfl.com.au/
Author: Phillip Monk Email: [moustrap@camtech.net.au]
Curator: Darryl
Harvey
email: {darryl@myinternet.com.au}
Last Updated: 9 September 1999
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