SANFL Under 18s Grand Final
(Adelaide Oval, 18 September 2016)
Pink! Unlikely name for a hero! And an unlikely way to win a game of football, kicking 6.20, but that 20th point will go into legend as did Barry Breen’s for St Kilda in the 1966 VFL Grand Final. Here, the winning point was even more unlikely…of which more later.
Glenelg took on North in an old-fashioned tug-of-war in which both teams each held sway at various moments of the game. North enjoyed the biggest lead in the first quarter, although the Tigers found their mojo and narrowed the gap at quarter time to 4 points.
For the next two quarters, it was a dour, end to end struggle, in which Glenelg dominated with scoring shots, but bagged 2.11!! They had a 9 point lead at 3/4 time, which was significant, as the Roosters only bagged 2 points in the third. But they came out of the blocks like champion Bantams in the last stanza, kicking four goals in 5 minutes, taking a 14 point lead at the half-way mark.
The Tigers bit back. A goal to Strange, a point to our best -on-ground, Scharenberg, and one to Boyle, put us a within a goal, and in the 22nd minute, a goal to Cock tied the score. Desperate measures were in order, the players from both sides taking hostages to fortune and running ragged even though a tie would = extra time. North went deep into attack in the 25th minute, were repelled and Edwards kicked long out of defence. A return kick from North went out on the full with about 10 seconds to go. Buchanan dinked a fast kick to Plenty who kicked forward to Toby Pink! He got on the end of it, amid 4 opponents, about 70 metres out against the breeze. The siren rang. Both sides started girding themselves for a battle into extra time. Pink!* got close to the man on the mark and hammered the ball deep into the square, where 11 North players waited to stop its path…but they all missed, and the ball rolled through for a point. Glenelg wins a Grand Final.
This is one of the more remarkable finishes in a game famous for curious finales: Congratulations Bays! Commiserations North (cheer yourself up with a look at another great game of the past between these 2 teams, and Bay fans meanwhile can look at the YouTube footage below).
Glenelg 6.20 (56) North Adelaide 8.7 (55)
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