Round 6 2006
From Snoutslouts
ROUND 6
GLENELG teenage sensation Bryce Gibbs had an entree serve of AFL action in Saturday's win against South delaide, when he stood Panther recruit and former Essendon Bomber Damian Cupido.
And the 17-year-old emerged looking ready for the mains.
Cupido, one of South's key components of its success, was kept scoreless from the forward picked by Gibbs, who rearely gave Cupido an inch.
Gibbs showed confident attack on the ball, flaunting Cupido's leads, and winning the praise of coach Mark Mickan.
"It was a talented player on a talented player. They obviously look for Damian Cupido a lot, and I was always confident of Bryce to be able to beat him one on one, he's that sort of a talent, Mickan said.
"It was something he was ready for, he's played in the midfield, he's played back, to put him on a really good quality opponent was the next thing in his progress and he handled it with fantastic poise and mental strength.
The Tigers fought back from 27 points down 16 minutes into the third quarter to steal the lead fromn South late in the final quarter and win 13.15 (93) to 12.11 (83).
Playing in a strong swirling breeze, Glenelg managed three goals into the breeze lat in the third quarter to cut the lead to 11.
The Tigers cut it to four early in the fourth when Crows draftee Richard Douglas, who was brilliant in defence all day, found open space and goaled.
South momentarily punctured the visitors' momentum with a Ben Warren goal, but majors to Justin McConnell, Ryan Willits and Mark Ruwoldt allowed Glenelg to storm home with the win. Willits' goal came off a holding the ball decision, typical of the pressure Glenelg had put on South all game.
The Panthers struggled for space, and ended up playing an extremely handball-heavy style of game.
The statistics showed South using 205 handballs and 179 kicks, compared to Glenelg's 94 handballs and 204 kicks.
With the possibility that Glenelg, South and Norwood could end up battling for one spot in the finals, the win at Noarlunga was crucial, and the Tigers should make it two in a row this Saturday against West at Broadspectrum.
SCORES: Glenelg 2.6 5.10 9.10 13.15 (93) defeated South Adelaide 2.5 6.6 11.9 12.11 (83).
BEST: Glenelg - Douglas, Gibbs, Backwell, Fisher, McConnell; South - Parry, Kenna, Bennett, Carlile, McGlone.
GOALS: Glenelg - Rogers 3, Duldig, McConnell 2, Douglas, Backwell, Logan, Kirk, Ruwoldt, Willits; South - Warren 3, Kenna, Archard 2, Davey, Iljecsen, Sampson, Love, McGlone. See also: 2006
