Under 16 Grand Finals

Glenelg beats the odds to claim under-16 crown

Best: Gould, Wisdom, Flinn, Thompson, Potter, Carney

Goals: Gould 7, Wisdom 3, Carney, Lovelock, Potter 2

By ANDREW CAPEL

It was one of the greatest turnarounds in football.

A month after Glenelg was thumped by minor premier Woodville-West Torrens by a whopping 86 points and managed just three goals at Woodville Oval, the Tigers’ under-16 team turned into a bunch of miracle workers.

After convincingly beating the higher-ranked South Adelaide by 70 points in a semi-final at Football Park, Glenelg saved its best until last, causing one of the biggest upsets ever seen in the SANFL un-der-16 competition to crush the heavily-favoured and previously unbeaten Eagles by 54 points in the grand final.

Asked if he thought a premiership was possible this year after a 4-3 win-loss record in the minor round and the 14-goal loss to the Eagles, Tigers coach Darren Tull’s answer was an emphatic “no’’.

“That was quite a spanking,’’ Tull said of the late-season eye-opener.

“The Eagles were far too good for us, we were a bit timid and we didn’t have a good enough defensive effort or workrate, which was a concern.’’

But Tull, who also coached Glenelg to an un-der-16s flag in 2014, put the acid on his team and tinkered with his positional placings.

The key move was that of All-Australian under-15 player Will Gould from centre half-back to full for-ward.

Gould, an imposing physical specimen at 194cm and 97kg, was to prove a difference-maker.

He kicked six goals against the Panthers as the Bays reversed their minor round loss to them and went one better in the grand final, booting seven in a scintillating display of class and power.Boasting strong hands and a booming right-foot kick, Gould bullied his opponents and gave the team “great confidence to go to him’’.

“And more often than not he gave us a positive result,’’ Tull said, adding Lucindale product Gould is like “one of those good, old-fashioned country kids who they say can kick a ball over a silo’’.

Fielding an unchanged side from its impressive semi-final win, the Tigers let the raging hot favourite Eagles know early in the grand final that they wouldn’t have things all their own way.

Kicking into a breeze, Glenelg showed it had learnt from its earlier poor display by hitting in hard from the start to lead by a point at quarter-time.

It then set up its shock and stunning victory with a five-goals-to-one second quarter with Gould and tall sidekick Tynan Carney providing strong options up forward and the classy Liam Wisdom and Brad Potter capitalising on the good work of lionhearted ruckman Ruben Flinn to control the midfield.

With Brad Thompson and Darcy LeCornu per-forming strongly in the back half and runners Oscar Lovelock and Finn Betterman imposing them-selves on the game the Tigers increased their lead to 32 points at the final change before breaking the match wide open in the final quarter.

“All premierships are obviously terrific but this one was particularly satisfying,’’ said Tull, who played under-19s and reserves football for Glenelg from 1985-87.

“To come from where we did to turn things around was a wonderful achievement and it’s a credit to all the players and everyone involved with the group.

“It was a pretty special triumph.’’

“Never-say-die Tigers salute again’’

GOALS –

Glenelg: K. Baldwin 3, B. McCreery 2, W. Gould, J. Tidswell, L. Edwards.

Eagles: B. Arriola 3, H. Schoenberg, L. Beecken, J. McCann. K. Pickett.

BEST –

Woolford, Davis, Edwards, Schreiber, Gould, Baldwin

Video of 4th Quarter

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Team as named

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By ANDREW CAPEL

GLENELG kept getting tested - during the minor round and in the grand final.

But when push came to shove, coach Layne Trembath’s under-16 troops always found some-thing special.

“We had a never-say-die attitude and team-first philosophy all season that stood us in good stead,’’ Trembath said.

“And we needed that in the grand final.’’

Chasing their second consecutive under-16s premiership, the Tigers - undefeated until the Big Dance - took on Woodville-West Torrens in the flag-decider without four key players.

Nick Crouch, Nick Jones, Will Day and Riley Carter were forced out of the Football Park encounter after late-season injuries.

And when Glenelg fell seven points behind at half-time in a tight, low-scoring match against the same club it had beaten in the grand final the previous year it was under serious pressure.

“We were in a bit of trouble,’’ conceded Trembath, who was in his first-year as under-16 coach after previously leading the Bays to an under-15 premiership.

“It was a super-tight game and things got pretty tense in the box.’’

Glenelg lifted in the third quarter to draw within a point at the final change and when leading goal-scorer Kaine Baldwin kicked his third major and Will Gould followed up 90 seconds later the Tigers had opened up a 12-point buffer 13 minutes into the fourth term.

But the Eagles refused to lie down.

With the Tigers losing ace midfielder Luke Edwards - son of Crows great Tyson Edwards - to a broken arm in the final quarter, the Eagles found a gear.

Livewire forward Kysaiah Pickett kicked a goal and a behind to close the gap to five points, ensuring a thrilling finish where coach Darren Hams’ Eagles had their chances to steal victory from the jaws of defeat.

“We seemed to have the ascendancy and then Pickett kicked a goal and looked like he was going to get another one and it was like ‘wow’, it was see-sawing to the end,’’ Trembath said.

“There were a couple of terrific defensive acts, some disciplined team-first acts, late in the game, including a crucial smother, that might have proved the difference between winning and losing.

“I was glad to hear the final siren because there certainly were some anxious moments.

“But I thought out boys were terrific when the game was on the line and to get the result we did was fantastic.’’

Gould was Glenelg’s leading disposal-winner with 26 while Edwards had 25, seven tackles and a goal.

Trembath said the Tigers used 43 players during the season because of school commitments and injuries but never lost their ability to play “team footy’’.

“We had a fairly even group - we weren’t littered with superstars - and no matter what was thrown at us they just kept playing team footy,’’ he said.

“We kept rotating players all season and they stood up under pressure, which was a real credit to them.’’

“There was a really good team spirit and the boys deserved what they got.’’

GLENELG WIN 2018 TORRENS UNIVERSITY U16 CUP

LEADING DISPOSALS –

Glenelg: Robins 26, W. Schreiber 24, Dean 23, Edwards 22, Baldwin 20, Pedlar 17, Carmody, Wright, Murphy 16.

Norwood: Tranfa 26, Schwerdt, Dnistriansky 18, Higgins 17, Vannini 15, Falco 14.

GOALS –

Glenelg: Davis 4, W. Schreiber, Baldwin 3, Edwards, Wright, Dean 2, Drum.

Norwood: Duke 2, Belperio, Roberts, Murley, Carey, Hearing, Dnistriansky.

At Maughan Thiem Hyundai (Woodville) Oval

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By Zac Milbank |

Glenelg has claimed a treble of premierships in the Torrens University Under-16 Cup competition, eclipsing Norwood by 63 points in the 2018 Grand Final at Maughan Thiem Hyundai Oval on Sunday.

Leading comfortably at every change, the Tigers backed up their convincing 40-point win against West Adelaide in the Semi Final with a fine display after earning Under-16 flags in 2016 and 2017.

Coached by Kieron Hicks, the Bays transferred their dominance in general play on to the scoreboard after having 48 more disposals and 22 more inside 50m entries than the Redlegs.

Key forwards Will Schreiber and Kane Baldwin had a big impact on the match for the Tigers, kicking three goals each while also hauling in 20 marks between them.

Xavier Robins ran hard to be the equal leading possession-winner on the ground with 26 while captain Kye Dean led from the front for Glenelg to finish with 23 touches and two goals.

Tigers midfielder Luke Edwards – the middle sibling of Crows great Tyson Edwards – was another key contributor with 22 possessions and two goals – the first of which extended his team’s lead to 17 points midway through the first term.

The Redlegs managed to cut the deficit to just nine points 16 minutes into the second stanza after Matt Dnistriansky kicked truly but by the time captain Samuel Duke scored their next goal, the margin had ballooned back out to 47 points approaching the final change.

Duke was Norwood’s only multiple goal kicker with two while Dnistriansky was one of his side’s better performers – his 18 disposals and a goal only shadowed by team-mate Xavier Tranfa with 26 touches.

GLENELG WINS FOURTH CONSECUTIVE U16 TORRENS UNIVERSITY CUP

LEADING DISPOSALS –

Glenelg: Watts 33, Rayson 29, Tunkin 28, Gluyas 27, Stagg 23, Davis 17, Beecken 15.

West: Thomson 24, Obst, Pridham 17, Thackeray 16, N. Oueiss 15, Kennedy, Roberts 14.

GOALS –

Glenelg: Stagg 3, Davis, Wanganeen 2, Brougham, Harding, McInnes, Tunkin, Watts.

West: White 3, C. Ouiess 2, N. Ouiess.

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A potent second quarter – in which Glenelg kicked six consecutive goals – gave the Bays control of the U16 Torrens University Cup Grand Final at half-time, ultimately leading to a comfortable victory against West Adelaide.

In a tough and uncompromising contest early, Glenelg blew the encounter open in second term, before a more even second half, where they went on to win this year’s title-decider by 39 points.

The match was played at City Mazda Stadium, Richmond, against their hosts, the Bloods, who were minor premiers and lost just a single game during the minor round.

Glenelg coach Scott Uppington explained, after five points separated the combatants at the first interval, his side arrested the momentum of the game in the second quarter, which he sees as a critical component in underage football.

“I reckon we kicked six goals to one in that term and this really set up the victory,” Uppington continued.

“While any game is never won at half-time I thought we’d given ourselves a good opportunity.

“It was a strong all round team effort with many contributors across the ground.”

Co-captain Kane Viska said this year’s Glenelg Under 16 side was confident going into the game despite losing to West Adelaide in round one.

“We had played a good month of football leading in and we felt like we had the ammunition to get the job done,” Viska, the son of former Tiger and Crow Mark Viska, confirmed.

Fellow Bays Captain Harry McInnes, from Naracoorte, reflected that both the city and the country boys gelled well and that was displayed in the team’s performance in the Grand Final.

Kingston lad Will Watts was exciting all game, collecting 33 disposals and kicking a goal.

Tigers’ midfielder Harry Tunkin, who hails from Millicent and now a Prince Alfred College student, played the link role well, collecting 28 touches while also slotting through a major.

In defence, Lewis Rayson produced immaculate skills by foot, having 23 kicks, many on his raking left foot, among his 29 disposals across half back.

Hugh Stagg showed his marking strength and kicked three goals along with laying a team-high six tackles.

Opportunist forward Nasiah Wanganeen kicked two goals during the second-quarter onslaught by the Bays, with his second being a freakish snap.

In a long best player list for Glenelg, others to take the eye included the feisty Darcy Gluyas on a wing, strong-marking defender Oscar Adams and marking talent up forward, Jayden Davis, who booted 2.3.

Best of the West Adelaide players were Cooper Thomson, Tyson Coe and David Midwinter in defence, while ruckman Nadim Queiss was gallant and competitive at the stoppages all day.

Jed Obst and diminutive Charlie Pridham battled across the game, while Dylan White kicked three goals.

Charbel Queiss kicked two majors from limited opportunities.