Round 7: North v South - Saturday 19 May @ Prospect Oval

North v South
Saturday 19 May
Prospect Oval

Reserves: 11:30am
League: 2:10pm

Both sides are coming off wins. Who will continue their winning form.

North by 6 goals. Have hardly put a foot wrong this year while South has been hot and cold.

At the start of the year I had this game pencilled in as possibly North's second win for the year. Never in my wildest dreams did I think that North would have won 5 wins.
I now think that this is a danger game for North especially if Max Thring is out. He is as important to North as Grigg is to Norwood, Kirkwood is to Sturt and Summerton is to Port. North were dominating the Crows in the first 15 minutes of the last game but immediately Thring tweaked his hamstring the game changed and North struggled from then on.
Brooksby is the other big worry. North's two ruckmen have actually struggled in the rucking but Barns in particular has made up for it by doing a lot of great work around the ground as almost another midfielder. In the first game of the year against Central, Darcy Fort dominated the ruck and also matched Barns and Harvey's input around the ground and Central won by 10 goals. Since then no ruckmen have had a similar impact to Barns around the ground. I rate Brooksby and I can see him causing big issues for North.
This game could decide North's line up for later in the season. James Craig has played two reserves games. He is clearly the club's best ruckman but has nowhere the impact around the ground as Barns and Harvey.

Cant see North letting this one slip, particularly at Prospect. They are clearly travelling well atm. Brooksby in my opinion has yet to hit the form we know he is capable of, showed a few glimpses but has been dropping too many marks. Whether Cross returns for this game will be crucial to Souths chances too. South have got a brace of 18 year olds playing also, they show some good signs but as we all know young fellas can be hot and cold....Panthers by 6 points!

rocket_rooster wrote:James Craig has played two reserves games. He is clearly the club's best ruckman but has nowhere the impact around the ground as Barns and Harvey.

The big fella pinged his hammy again in the twos game at the Ponderosa against the Dogs last Friday night.

Today's 1079 Life broadcast game, coverage starts 1pm

You could Win a double pass to Wallis Cinemas, pick the winner and closest margin on 1079 Life Facebook Page (SANFL Gameday thread) https://www.facebook.com/LifeFM1079/

Listen on 107.9 FM in Adelaide or web stream http://www.1079Life.com/listen

thank goodness for Life, the SANFL radio commentary is impossible to listen to, talking about anything but the game,. Really ordinary way to show the game

rocket_rooster wrote:
Brooksby is the other big worry. North's two ruckmen have actually struggled in the rucking but Barns in particular has made up for it by doing a lot of great work around the ground as almost another midfielder. In the first game of the year against Central, Darcy Fort dominated the ruck and also matched Barns and Harvey's input around the ground and Central won by 10 goals. Since then no ruckmen have had a similar impact to Barns around the ground. I rate Brooksby.

Unfortunately my prediction was spot on. Brooksby killed North. His display was outstanding. Cross and Davis weren't too bad either. In fact after quarter time most of South were very good.
North's defence looked very ordinary as soon as Wilkie went off.  He kicked a goal after the quarter time siren and that was the last I saw of him. I am not using his injury as an excuse but more as an example of how brittle North still are and how they rely on a few important players.
South were very good today. Very tall, very fast and good at winning the hard ball.

Final score

South 15.5
North8.10

Great win after a slow start. Usual suspects of Liddle, Cross, Rose, Davis (was mediocre last year, having a very good 2018) got plenty of it, Brooksby good in ruck, while it's pleasing to see the generally inconsistent Rankine string a few strong games together with 4 goals.

Only dampener was the nasty looking injury to young forward Krueger.