Australian Football

Match Report

Welcome to the final instalment of the Wrap-Up for this year... the 2021 SANFL Statewide Super League Grand Final.

Once again we return to the surroundings of the Adelaide Oval where unfortunately, we weren't let off by the SA Government in regards to crowds. Despite our anti-Covid measures being pretty air-tight, we still found ourselves being held back to a 50% capacity crowd as the Eagles prepared to defend their title against the 2019 premiers in Glenelg. As said earlier, these two clubs have never fought out a premiership decider before. They have battled in finals games before though. You need only look back a fortnight ago in the 2nd Semi-Final in which the Eagles only just escaped the Tigers grasp. The Eagles seemed to have it in the bag up until the final term when the Bays launched a last ditch assault. They kicked into the lead with minutes left to go, but the Eagles' last goal by Tyson Stengle in the dying moments denied the Tigers the first Grand Final berth. Previously, these sides have met in four other finals matches stretching back to 1992, which to date was the Tigers' only victory over the Eagles. It was a Preliminary Final in which the Bays inflicted a 64-point hammering over the relatively new side whose debut as a merged team was the previous season. The Eagles would take victory in subsequent meetings, their first was the 1999 Qualifying Final by 11 points, then two 1st Semi-Finals in 2007 and 2010. When you go into the records in the pre-merger years of West Torrens and Woodville, you'll find two Tigers victories in a 1951 1st Semi and a 1974 eliminator, then another pair of wins against the Warriors in the 1986 Preliminary Final and then the following year's Elimination Final. The former would lead to back-to-back flags going to Brighton Road.

Grand Final success for these sides has been slim pickings. If you want to be technical, the Eagles have eight premiership flags in their cabinets but only half of them belong to the club that stands today. Along with the West Torrens title-winning seasons of 1924, 1933, 1945 and 1953, the merged team have won four premierships over their 30 years in partnership. It only took three seasons for Woodville-West Torrens to net the prize, taking out the 1993 premiership against the Redlegs. Their defence of that title came up short against Port Adelaide in 1994 and it wouldn't be until Season 2000 that they returned to the big stage. Even then, the trophy eluded their grasp again and again, mostly at the hands of the rampant Central District. From their six Grand Final appearances in the ensuing 12 seasons, all against the Bulldogs, they won two of them in 2007 and 2011. After back-to-back disappointments in 2015 and 2016, the Eagles took out the 2020 premiership against North Adelaide after a pandemic-disrupted season, a revenge trip two years in the making after that infamous 2018 Preliminary Final. All in all, their record in the decider is four victories from 11 games. But if anyone knows about Grand Final heartbreak, it's Glenelg. While they did break a long drought of over 30 years and finally putting one over the Magpies only two years ago, their 100-year history is littered with hard-luck stories at the big dance. From their 18 previous Grand Final appearances, they have lost 13 of them. The Magpies had a fair bit to do with that during their worst periods. After winning the 1973 premiership, they had one of their longest and worst runs of luck spanning almost two decades. From 1974 and running all the way through to 1992, the Tigers lost nine grand finals to Sturt (1974), Norwood (1975, 1982), the Magpies (1977, 1981, 1988, 1990, 1992) and the Roosters (1987). They did manage to make the 2008 decider, but became another victim of the Bulldogs.

After the Tigers took out both minor round games, it was shocking to say the least when the Eagles bagged the first Grand Final spot at their expense a fortnight ago. The Eagles' only sticking point was a lacklustre final term that almost saw them drop the game. Perhaps the signs began showing as far back as the last minor round game which the Tigers lost to the Magpies, which was their only blemish of the home and away season. Both sides would field teams that had around half their line-ups featuring in their previous Grand Finals. Despite finding their form against the Panthers in the Preliminary Final, the old Tiger habits of those years past were about to rear their head once again. After a tit-fot-tat opening 15 minutes which saw both sides kick two goals each, the Eagles ruled the rest of the term and would go into the first change with a three-goal advantage, largely due to the Menzel boys and Tyson Stengle. At quarter-time it was 5.2 to 2.2. The second quarter was a bit of a fizzer, with the Eagles scoring the only goal of the term and the Tigers wasting their one scoring shot as the defending premiers extended their lead to 23 points. The Tigers were looking anything but the championship material they showed their fans through the bulk of the regular season. They regularly fought every game out, sometimes having to come from behind. They had true grit, a burning desire to win and all the firepower. But only the football gods knew where they left it because it wasn't on show this day and all of a sudden, the dream of celebrating 100 years of existence was turning into one of their worst nightmares. Men like Liam McBean, Luke Reynolds and Lachlan Hosie were all put on a leash by the Eagles backs and rendered all but ineffective.

Not even the returning Luke Partington could bring them up and the magic of Marlon Motlop had been nullified. When play resumed the Eagles kept running rings around the Tigers and would further extend their lead by the final change, leaving little wonder they call the third term the "Premiership Quarter". Majors from Angus Poole, Jack Hayes, Daniel Menzel and Kobe Mutch took the Eagles lead out to more than seven straight kicks after the Eagles added 4.3 to the Tigers' lowly 1.1, at the three quarter-time siren, the gap was now out to 43 points. There would be no miraculous comeback by the side that only a few weeks ago were dubbed premiers-in-waiting. The Eagles well and truly shut the door as Jim Comitogianni, Mutch and the Menzels put the final nails in the Glenelg centenary coffin, Matt Allen again scoring the Tigers' single major in one term among five scores. In the end, the Eagles would win by 67 points and in the process go back-to-back for the first time in their 30-year post-merger history. Jack Hayes would bag the Jack Oatey Medal as best on ground, playing most of the game with a broken leg. He took maximum votes from the nine judges, notched up 26 disposals, nine marks and seven clearances. The Menzels scored seven goals with Daniel booting four and Stengle made the most of his 12 disposals to kick three majors. Mutch and Riley Knight were monsters of tackles with a combined tally of 22, while Knight also made eight clearances. Matt Snook was the clear standout for the Tigers on a horrible afternoon, he had 22 disposals as well as nine tackles and clearances. Dylan Landt had four more disposals than Snook, but wasn't as active with other key stats. Partington and Brett Turner combined for 11 tackles and 10 clearances, but their influence was well held by the Eagles. A shocking and abysmal end for a milestone season that showed so much promise.