Eagles Championship Defence off to a Flyer


Without his Boomer backcourt partner it was again left to last year’s finals hero Adam Doyle (27 points, 4 assists, 4 steals) to provide much of the Eagles offence, torching Woodville’s defence from both inside and outside the arc en route to a man-of-the-match performance.

Neil Mottram (14 points, 11 rebounds), Jake Rios (18 points) and Trent Fildes (14 points, 9 rebounds) were also all solid contributors on the night.

Doyle took no time warming up for the Eagles, exploding for 12 points in the first quarter to see Forestville jump out to an early 17-6 lead.  Big man Neil Mottram also got going early with 10 points in the second quarter, displaying his vast repertoire of low-post moves against the hapless Woodville defence, capped off with an emphatic baseline jam that handed the Eagles a commanding 15 point lead at the major change.

Whilst Woodville managed to reduce the deficit to 3 by quarter-time they never truly recovered from the slow start, trailing from wire-to-wire as they struggled to come up with the all-important defensive stops that would have enabled them to chip away at the Eagles’ early lead. 

Despite scoring a team-high 21 points, the Eagles’ zone defence did well to deny Darren Ng any easy looks at the basket, limiting the former 36ers sharpshooter to 2-7 from range on the night.

Ng, normally a master of generating space off of crafty cuts and use of screens, certainly wasn’t helped by his teammates inability to demand any of Forestville’s defensive attention, particularly in the case of import Aaron Wyatt who struggled mightily for just 2 points and 3 rebounds in 17 minutes of action. 

The Warriors briefly threatened a comeback at the start of the third when a Steve Pilkington basket was immediately followed up by a steal and converted three-point play by Ng to bring the margin back to single figures.

However another timely triple from Doyle and a backdoor cut from Gerlach that caught Woodville napping immediately restored the margin back to 15, only to be pushed out past 20 moments later courtesy of a pair of long-range daggers from Rios, a lead that was never really challenged in the final term.

“I thought we played really disciplined tonight,” said Eagles coach Andy Simons after the match.

“We had a game-plan and we stuck to it really well.”

Forestville will now venture to Port Adelaide to compete for a grand final berth against minor premiers West Adelaide next Saturday, whilst Woodville will have to overcome an inspired Centrals group in a do-or-die semi final to keep their championship hopes alive.

 Stats Webcast

By Lachlan Sellar

 




Comments

Comment Guidelines: The SportsTG Network is made up of players, families and passionate sports followers like you who have a strong opinion about sport. That's great - we want you to have your say and share your thoughts with the world. However, we have a few rules that you must follow to keep it fun for all. Please don't be rude, abusive, swear or vilify others. Apart from some pretty serious sport sanctions, we also can ban you and report you if things get out of hand. So play fair and have fun, and thanks for your contribution.

Create A Team App Account.

Stack Team App is a platform that allows teams and social groups to improve communication by creating their own smartphone app.

Create A Team/Club