Messenger Round 17 Review

Erik Burdon

Four weeks after North seemed to have closed the door on finals and padlocked it shut, the Rockets are facing a do-or-die final round clash with Central Districts to earn their spot in the five.

The Lions have been the story of the season in recent weeks. Since parting ways with import Oliver Prince, they have won four games in a row, including upset wins against West Adelaide and, on Saturday, second-placed Norwood.

To beat West, the Lions were missing Daniel Cioffi. That was centre Daniel Carlin’s last game before going to the Australian Institute of Sport. Since losing him, they beat Eastern, then South, before stunning Norwood 122-103 - this time without three-point specialist Matt Atkins.

In this week’s decisive encounter, the Lions will again be without Cioffi - who scored 36 on Saturday - who has headed back to Italy.

For North, the past four weeks have been a nightmare. The Rockets looked to have booked their place in finals when Erik Burdon hit a three-pointer to beat top side Forestville, in a round where Central and Southern both lost.

That gave the Rockets a two-game gap on Southern, and a three-game gap on Central. At the time, North appeared to have the more favourable run home of the three teams.

But since then, the Rockets have suffered losses to Eastern (9th), Norwood (2nd), and South (10th), to leave the door open for the barnstorming Lions.

Click here for the remainder of this article, which includes a review of all round 15 games of the Central ABL.




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.

Sell Tickets.

Run your Event.

Sell tickets, QR Code + add to wallet functionality, track attendance, receive weekly settlements - all with GameDay Events & Ticketing!

A laptop and smart phone displaying the GameDay Events app.