South v North, Round 23, Sunday Sept 2

No clubs will be looking forward to playing North in the finals if they can keep Stewart, Johnston and Alleway in their side. They also hope to have Allan back for the major round. They've beaten Norwood and West this year, and generally seem to push Centrals pretty hard.

South have played the top 3 teams in the last 3 weeks and gone with each of them for the majority of the games, so they're probably travelling better than most 2nd-to-bottom clubs. If the game was at Prospect you'd have more confidence picking them though. Far from being a fortress, Hickinbotham Oval has been an open house for visitors in 2012.

Despite the one point loss to West I still think the Panthers showed a bit last Friday night and I do think they can get up this week against North, my tip is South by less than two goals.

North by 10-20 points.

North:

Nick Amato Clint Alleway Cohen Thiele
Leigh Ryswyk Lewis Johnston Sam Mayes
Mitch Clisby James Allan Kriston Thompson
Jake Keller Todd Miles Greg Gallman
Michael Clinch Will Dalwood Luke Ivens

Ruck
Daniel Currie
James Bennett
Max Thring

Interchange
James Craig
Jay Shannon
Eljay Connors
Alek Kangur

In
James Allan
Alek Kangur

Out
Daniel Stewart (Power)

South have included McKay and Otten in their squad.

The Roosters are playing some good footy at the right end of the year, and, despite the doom-sayers, have managed some good wins without their ball magnet captain, James Allan. The team has found confidence in the ability of the individuals, and all facets are gelling well. Some hard edged work from Shannon, who committed his body last week in a saving mark while moving back into the pack, demonstrated the desperation of what North are now showing. Tackling is fierce, and the opposition is finding it hard to find targets and is pressurised into turning over the ball. The wide open spaces of Noarlunga will also suit the Roosters' run and carry game with a long kick into the forward line to 3 tall, high-marking targets. Dalwood showed in their last meeting that he can manage Wundke and minimise his impact. North should have too much to work for in a confidence boosting win leading into the finals, while South have nothing to gain except some credibility. North by 20 points.

Josh Francou just had his contract extended for another 2 years.

http://www.nafc.com.au/news/p3673.aspx?m=1

South 17.10 112
North 15.3 93

Well I thought Two goals and we managed it by three!

End result, South hand the Wooden Spoon to Sturt to close out the year.

South led all day bar for about the first 2 minutes of the day & from then on the game was never really in doubt....Dalwood is not a key defender he firstly played Wundke & then Ainger into form, it was an open running type of game & i doubt Glenelg will want to go into a shootout with South this week, if North lose next week will going into finals (presuming they make it) be a concern with the form of losing two in a row ?