The Fairy Tale Comeback
33 points down and 19 minutes into the second term of the U18’s Grand Final, the Eagles looked grounded. The Dogs’ midfielders and tall forwards were on fire, as the red, blue and white’s perfect September looked to finish in style.
At half-time, the Dogs’ best were Tom Cochrane (11 disposals, four clearances), Ryan Lane-Ellis (11 disposals, four clearances) and Matthew LeRay (11 disposals, one goal and four clearances).
However, the Eagles at half-time had other plans. Led by Rome Burgoyne (27 disposals, six clearances), Jack Gray (four goals, nine disposals), Jack Cook (25 disposals, five tackles) and Jett Hastings (20 disposals, one goal), the second half saw Woodville-West Torrens in cruise control as they ran over the top of the Dogs to win, 11.7.73 to 12.5.77.
30 seconds into the game, James Noack went down in the centre of the square, concussed at the first bounce. It left a gaping hole in the ruck for the Dogs.
As so often had been the story of the season, the Dogs’ elite midfield was able to win out. Makeshift ruck, Aidan Schubert, was able to tap the football down the throat of his midfielders, who delivered inside forward 50.
Inside forward 50, Tallan Rosenzweig and Charlie Nicholls dominated in the air. The Dogs’ tall forwards were a handful for the Eagles defence. Rosenweig and Nicholls went into quarter-time with two goals a piece, and the Dogs had a handy lead.
A see-sawing second quarter saw both teams kick three goals.
However, from half-time, it was all the Eagles. Woodville-West Torrens began to even up the clearances, hit-outs, inside 50s and rebounds 50s.
Level at three-quarter-time, goals to Gray, Rosenweig and West left Woodville-West Torrens with a six-point lead. Schubert worked his way forward to take a mark and draw the game level with a calmly converted set shot.
With misses to both Douglas Cochrane and Schubert, the Dogs were two points up.
The Eagles went forward and found a goal from Logan Hughes, who snapped round his body to give Eagles a four point lead. The Eagles had piled on ten goals to seven between the first break and the end of the game.
The Dogs locked the ball in their forward half for a lot of the last quarter, but the comeback was complete and Woodville-West Torrens were premiers.
From fourth to Premiers
The Eagles had done the near impossible. After finishing 4th, they travelled to Unley and defeated Sturt, then to Glenelg where they toppled the ladder-leading Tigers, before a come-from-behind win against the Dogs on GF day to complete the fairy tale.
Midfield mixes
It was a simple game: when a team was on top in the middle, they were winning the game. At half-time, the Dogs were comfortably ahead in clearances and hit-outs, and were first-class at stoppage. However, when Woodville-West Torrens began their fightback, the first area they improved was the midfield, which was a large reason why they won.
Central District FC: 5.2 8.4 9.5 11.7.73
Woodville-West Torrens: 2.1 5.3 9.5 12.5.77
Goalkickers:
Central District FC:
Rosenzweig (4), Nicholls (2), Schubert (2), Cochrane, LeRay, Rothe
Woodville-West Torrens:
Gray (4), Hughes (3), West (2), Hasting, Phillipou, Russell
Best:
Central District FC:
Cochrane, Rosenzweig, Schubert
Woodville-West Torrens:
Burgoyne, Gray, Hasting