Round 1: West v South - Friday 7 April @ City Mazda Stadium

West v South
Friday 7 April
City Mazda Stadium

Reserves: 4:30pm
League: 7:10pm

It's last year's wooden spooners taking on a side many expect to be on the decline in 2017. Will West start 2017 with a win, or will South defy the predictions for at least one week.

How would fans rate West if their remaining premiership olayers regained their 2015 form and confidence?

West would be odds on if that were the case, I still think West will win as I expect (with respect to him) South to drop with the new coach & could add a loss of a player or two, West by 5 goals

I've seen a couple of Souths trials and to be brutally honest, I was underwhelmed, especially vs the Eagles last Saturday.
On our current form West will be too good.

blueandwhite wrote:I've seen a couple of Souths trials and to be brutally honest, I was underwhelmed, especially vs the Eagles last Saturday.
On our current form West will be too good.

Agreed. Something this year seems different with us but I'm not feeling a good vibe.

If the trials are anything to go by we need to dramatically improve to beat Westies.

Should be a pretty even contest and very much looking forward to footy being back .

South to win easily.
Westies have lost Porplyzia for the year and Schmidt will miss 8 weeks.
By far Westies two most talented players.
Going to be tough now for the bloods to climb the ladder I think......

I think there's a new group of talented players coming through and we might be pleasantly surprised.

I really hope so Lee.
Feeling a bit flat today like most Westies supporters I would think.
Terrible luck for Porps.

Yes it's devastating for Jason and all of us.

We'll all get around him and I'd say he has a bright coaching future ahead when he stops playing.

In last year's two games between the clubs, Brett Eddy (15 goals) nearly knocked off West (16 goals). Will be interesting to see how the South forward line functions this year. Need big years from Overall and recruit Davis to fill the significant void.

I may be over optimistic but i feel we blooded a group of good young players who are ready to take up the challenge also have recruited well -- westies by 7

On a side note tonight's game is the first time in 42 years that a member of the Harradine family has not been involved in the match side of a game
One is now president
One has given it away and will be in the past player's room having a beer or two

And the one having a beer or several deserves it after 40 years of working for the club.

It's unbecoming for Presidents to walk around with mud on their shoes!

Panthers by 6 goals.

Good to see much improved lighting at City Mazda last night.

Nearly all of the lights had been fixed.

The ground was in immaculate condition. One of the positives from hosting AFL games is that all SANFL grounds are in really good condition now.

As for the footy, South looked well drilled and their field kicking was far superior to West's and we started very slowly. We fought back well, but lost most centre clearances and often started from defence after a centre bounce.

The attitude and endeavour was good, but South were better and we've got work to do.

A win by South, but....IMO opinion West were severely undermanned and played a lot of young inexperienced players-who performed pretty well. No 64 a blonde heade fellow on the wing impressed me.
- South looked disorganised and coughed up the ball too often under pressure. Adapting to the new game plan will clearly take a while and its clearly a work in progress. Souths players often looked in two minds and confused. new recruit Abe Davis looks a player and performed admirably in his debut. Sam Overall looked very impressive up forward and has the size and hands to be a dominant SANFL forward in the future. All in all happy to get the points but a long way to go..