League Round 1 Match Report

Eagles 13.12 (90) def North Adelaide 8.17 (65)
Goal Scorers: J Hayes 4, Rowe 3, Poole, Redden, Weidemann, Hall, Petrenko, Lonergan
Best Players: JHayes, Foote, Petrenko, Rowland, Boyd, Redden

Preseason was very successful with the playing group completing a significant amount of training over a four month period. We’ve implemented a number of changes during the preseason and the group has embraced change extremely well.

It was an exciting build up to Round 1 with preseason finally behind us and all eyes were on the team as we took the field with 4 debutants and a new coach. The First quarter we got off to a slow start with a few missed kicks, fumbles, a runner free kick and the new 6-6-6 rule handing out a free kick to the North Adelaide Ruckman directly in front of goal. We worked hard towards the end of the first quarter winning the clearances count and hitting the scoreboard.

Mid way through the 2^nd quarter we lost Nick Hayes for the game and moments after debutant Thomas Schmusch would be ruled out for the game with a shoulder injury. Despite all this we still continued to control stoppages and also hit the scoreboard with some good ball movement to take a ten point lead in at half time. Half time allowed us to restructure the team and the rotations with 2 key position players out for the day.

We hit the ground running in the 3^rd quarter and stepped up to the challenge by piling on a number of goals to extend our lead. Jack Hayes and debutant Jordan Foote continued to work hard and played fantastic games. Redden, Petrenko, Lonergan, Lewis and Boyd were vital between the arcs and James Rowe was another promising young Eagle that was at his best across half forward, finishing with 3 goals.

We held a nice lead heading in to the last quarter with a number of players on 100% game time and only 1 player on the bench to help share the load. We lost Jake Johansen during this quarter with a head knock and with no rotations left the group dug deep to get our first win for the 2019 season.

The highlight of the day was the character of the group to step up to the challenge at half time and extend our lead by a further 15 points.

Sam Lonergan
League Coach