SANFL 2006 FIRST SEMI-FINAL: NORTH ADELAIDE v SOUTH ADELAIDE

Pyman takes the positive

By DALE CLARKE

LOOKING anything but a losing coach after South Adelaide's elimination at the hands of North on Sunday, Panthers boss Robert Pyman spoke highly of his team's season of achievement.

South lost the first semi-final at Adelaide Oval by 25 points despite leading by 15 points late in the third quarter against a wounded Roosters side with its last 18 players ignoring pains of their own to record the win.

But Pyman was able to see the 2006 season as the accomplishment it was - the Panthers making the finals for the first time since 1992.

And getting there included mini-final wins against the Eagles, Norwood and Glenelg.

“Whilst the playing group and the emotions are gutted at the moment, they also understand that this is the start of the journey and as a club we're very proud of their efforts this year,” Pyman said.

South had no clear standouts on a scrappy, windy day and could have used experienced former AFL player David Clarke, who did not recover from a calf strain from the previous week.

The Panthers had many goal-scoring opportunities on set shots, but in difficult conditions, struggled to capitalise, with several attempts going out on the full.

Panther fans may toss and turn in their sleep with visions of North's Chris Ladhams winning crucial possessions all over the ground, and kicking five goals.

South's backmen worked hard all day to create contests on North's forward 50m entries, with Alipate Carlile, Gerrard Bennett and Tom Hateley all performing.

One of South's major problems was its choice of disposals, and Pyman was left to assess a team that was too unselfish.

“The trust factor in the group is very high and they actually want to play for one another,” he said. “Sometimes the decision to actually kick the goal as compared to using your team mate is the right decision and sometimes they don't get that right, but we would much rather them be unselfish players and use their team mates than the opposite.”

SCORES: North Adelaide 3.6 6.10 7.14 14.18 (102) defeated South Adelaide 4.3 5.7 10.9 11.11 (77).

BEST: North – Ladhams, Gill, Hudson, McIntyre, Campbell, Bamford; South – Smith, Wright, Carlile, Bennett, Sampson, Parry.

GOALS: North – Ladhams 5, Hargraves, Gill, Younie 2, Edwards, Alleway, Koops; South – Twomey, Davey 2, Ellis, Iljcesen, Archard, Parry, Thewlis, C.Sampson, Smith.