SANFL 2006 ROUND 23: GLENELG v SOUTH ADELAIDE

No finals for Gibbs and Bays

By DALE CLARKE

BRYCE Gibbs' last memories as a Tiger, at least for a few years, will be painful.

Glenelg's finals hopes were crushed in a knockout game against South Adelaide on Saturday, the Panthers riding into the major round with a 49-point win at Adelaide Oval.

With Gibbs widely tipped to be picked up early in the AFL draft by a Melbourne-based team, Saturday's loss may have been his last game in the Glenelg yellow and black.

But as the Tigers missed the finals for the seventh year in a row, coach Mark Mickan was left to rue more costly losses during the year after the game.

“We can look back on our year and look at a couple of games that really cost us badly,” Mickan said. “We shouldn't have lost to Sturt by a point at home, and lost to North by four points, after we had the last shot at goal.”

Glenelg's one-point loss to Sturt in round nine was one of the upsets of the year, while the loss to North by four points in round 20 was one of the top games of the season.

But the loss to Sturt, and the knockout blow on Saturday will be the most sour memories for Tiger supporters.

It was a battle between two finals'-deprived clubs – Glenelg not seeing finals since 1999, while for South, 1992 was the last major round appearance.

Glenelg led by 18 during the second quarter, and had momentum in its favour after trailing by nine at quarter-time. Former Sydney Swan Jarrad Sundqvist was superb in this quarter, banging on five of his six goals, most of which came on loose ball finds.

The Panthers' tackling pressure in the third quarter was where the game swung towards South.

South left the Tigers with no luxury of space, winning at least three holding-the-ball free kicks in that quarter.

“Our third quarter was very disappointing I think we gave the ball back to them too easily when we had clear possession, and fumbled a little bit and struggled with clearances during that period,” Mickan said.

“We really lost it in 20 minutes of footy.

“We had enough opportunities to still have a good (third) quarter, in that we had enough of the ball and enough possession but we really struggled to use it to advantage.”

Gibbs was a standout, using the ball well for his 31 possession, eight mark stat-line.

SCORES: South Adelaide 4.5 9.6 17.11 24.13 (137) defeated Glenelg 3.2 10.5 11.7 16.12 (108).

BEST: South – Ellis, Archard, Davey, Clarke, Thewlis, Smith, Sampson, McGlone, Parry; Glenelg – Sundqvist, Gibbs, Graham, Sherwood, Mitchell, Moore.

GOALS: South – Ellis 8, Archard 3, Davey, Cupido, Wright 2, Thewlis, Iljcesen, Kenna, Smith, Clarke, Kruger, Carlile; Glenelg – Sundqvist 6, McConnell, Duldig 3, Gibbs, Kirk, Cranston, Graham.