Port Adelaide has retained the Williams-Gallagher Cup with a hard fought 24 point victory over the Redlegs at Alberton Oval on Sunday. The Magpies set up their win by kicking three goals against the wind in the third quarter and restricting Norwood to 3 before storming home with a 6 goals to 2 in the last quarter.

Ziggie Alwan and Stephen Doyle who has had yet another set-back with his hamstring injury dropped out of the squad of 23 named prior to final training on Friday night.

James Gallagher won the toss and kicked with a strong breeze to the southern end of Alberton Oval and despite Port having the first shot on goal the Redlegs dominated the quarter with some hard running, direct skilful football and restricted the homeside to just 2 scoring shots for a single goal for a five goal lead at quarter time. For the first half of the second quarter we were able to maintain the buffer, however the Magpies rallied kicking some unanswered goals late in the quarter to reduce the margin to just 1 point at the main break.

The premiership quarter seemed destined to determine the winner of the contest, especially with the breeze being an influence on scoring productivity to the Northern End and by three-quarter time when our margin was just five points the Redlegs were fighting an uphill battle to stay in the contest. Whilst the Redlegs never gave up trying the home side just made less errors in the second half and were able to use the ball more effectively.

As has been the case in the last few weeks, too few players contributed for four quarters, Nick Duigan being the outstanding exception today being willing to take risks, take on his opponents, run hard and deliver the ball effectively forward. Josh Donohue was back to some of his been form also, working hard through the midfield and also going forward, crumbing the ball well and contributing three goals. James Gallagher and Simon Phillips worked well through the midfield while Taylor Walker was again our most effective forward with 4 goals.

Congratulations to 18 year old Ben Speight on his efforts in his first league game, he played with maturity, poise and skill, contributing two (2) goals and showing he has fine future ahead of him at league level.

Thirty seven (37) scoring shots to twenty one (21) told the story of the Reserves sides fortunes who went down by 36 points. Toby Schulz was back to some of his best form deep in defence, Robbie DeJongh played his best game in a few weeks, Ziggie Alwan continued with his fine form and James Skinner along with his two (2) goals marked and lead strongly. Other multiple goal scorers were Matthew Brunoli and Ryan Schoenmakers with two (2) each.

The efforts of Andrew Milligan's under 19's team was the highlight of the clubs fortunes on Saturday at Coopers Stadium. Taking on the higher ranked team, Darren Shillabeer kicked 9 goals to lead his side to victory by 50 points. Darren along with Stewart Fincher, Matthew Fosdike and Michel Arbon were named amongst the best. David Oatey's team fought a brave fight against the second placed side to loose by just 10 points.

After three successive losses the Redlegs now face top of the table Sturt at Coopers Stadium next Saturday before our last bye of the season. Hanging desperately to a position in the top five a win is absolutely essential to restore some confidence and respect before the run to hopeful September participation.

David J Bean
League Team Manager