STEPHEN O'LOUGHLIN
SOUTH Gawler dusted off some
early rust to prevail over Nuriootpa
by just four points in its opening
clash of the 2021 Barossa,
Light & Gawler Football Association
season.
Strong cross-winds at Nuriootpa
Oval made goal-scoring difficult and
troubled the visitors throughout, preventing
the Lions from building any
significant lead and keeping scores
tight for the entirety of the contest.
The Lions took the ascendency into
the first break, nine points up, but failed
to extend that further in the second term
with too many loose entries inside 50
which were easily intercepted.
However, the Tigers struggled to
produce in their own attacking half
with any fluency to find targets and
get on top of last year’s runners-up.
At the end of the term, it was a
couple of errant kicks from South
Gawler defenders trying to elude
pressure which gifted the home side
a three-point lead right on half-time.
The Lions returned to gain a few
quick centre clearances in succession
to regain the advantage, but
their inability to finish in front of
goal saw the buffer stay within 10
points throughout the third term.
Nuriootpa’s dour defence stood
firm from the constant bombardment
of its opposition’s attacks, but it was
unable to add much in its favour at
the other end of the ground as Darcy
Judd-Smith and Pat White controlled
the back-50 for South Gawler.
South maintained control, seven
points ahead at the final change, and
after adding several points to its tally,
a Chris James goal around the
eight-minute mark of the final term
stretched the difference to a gamehigh
15 points.
The Tigers managed two late
goals from new arrivals Kyle Jenner
and Nicholas Madden to create some
interest in the final moments of the
contest.
However, for much of that time,
the ball remained in South Gawler’s
half and, therefore, prevented any
chance of the result being pinched at
the finish.
It was a win that Lions’ coach Gavin
Chaplin was willing to bank, but he
was not completely impressed with the
overall performance of his side.
“I’m probably a bit disappointed
because we went inside-50 58 times
to their 31... we left them in the
game for a long time,” he said.
“We made a lot of mistakes. To
quarter-time, we’d made three mistakes
and they directly gave them
three goals – and they only scored
four (to half-time).
“We played some reasonable footy
in some periods, but, even being the
first game, probably not enough.”
Lion skipper Jackson Dare was
tireless in his rebound off of halfback,
while Nuriootpa’s Ryan Foulis,
Lachlan Westlake and Duncan
Cragg-Sapsford did their best to
swing it the Tigers’ way, albeit unsuccessfully.