1994 SANFL Grand Final

The 1994 SANFL (South Australia National Football League) Grand Final saw the Port Adelaide Magpies defeat the Woodville-West Torrens Eagles by 37 points after being 35 points behind in the first quarter. The match was played on October 2 1994 at Football Park in front of a crowd of 40,598.

Quarter by Quarter Scores

At the 25 minute mark of the first quarter, the Eagles led by 35 points and seemed to be headed towards certain victory. Port kicked the last 2 goals in the quarter to leave the Eagles with a 22 point lead.

The second quarter was evenly matched with both teams scoring 2.3, however the Eagles still seemed to have the game under control.

Port Adelaide fought back in the third quarter and outplayed the Eagles, but Port failed to captalise due to inaccurate kicking for goal, scoring 2.6 (18) to 1.2 (8) for the quarter and still trailing by 12 points.

Port went into the final quarter with momentum and ran over the top of the Eagles. Port kicked 3 goals in the first 7 minutes to take the lead, and kicked 9.3 (57) to 1.2 (8) for the quarter to run out winners with a margin of 37 points. Full-forward Scott Hodges kicked 5 goals for the quarter.

Teams

[ [http://www.footysa.com/index.php?title=Premiership_Teams SANFL Premiership Teams] ]

Port Adelaide Magpies:

Goal Kickers

Port: S. Hodges 6.2, A. McLeod 2.2, S. Williams 2.1, T. Ginever 2.0, T. Malakellis 1.2, S. Pedlar 1.1, D. Borlase 1.0, S. Carter 0.1, B. Chalmers 0.1, T. Olsen 0.1, R. Smith 0.1, (Rushed 0.4)

Eagles: S. Morphett 4.1, A. Taylor 2.4, S. Nichol 1.0, N. Pesch 1.0, S. Sziller 1.0, G. Walker 1.0, A. Payze 0.1, J. Sziller 0.1, (Rushed 0.2)

Port Adelaide as Underdog

Despite Port Adelaide's recent success, having won 4 premierships in the 6 years leading up to 1994, the Eagles were seen as the superior team coming in to the Grand Final. Port had lost several key players in recent years to the AFL and retirement, and the Eagles had thrashed Port just 2 weeks earlier in the 2nd Semi Final by 73 points.

Betting before the Grand Final saw Woodville-West Torrens as clear favourites with 1/3 odds and Port at 25/101994 Grand Final Port Adelaide v Eagles 2/10/94, video cassette, ABC Sport] . Port's odds could have been even higher if not for their outstanding record in Grand Finals, and their reputation for beating better teams.

When the Eagles led by 35 points in the first quarter, the game seemed headed toward an inevitable Eagles victory. Port then staged a miraculous 72-point turnaround.

Captains and Coaches

Port Adelaide was captained by Tim Ginever and coached by John Cahill. Woodville-West Torrens was captained by Peter Schwarz and coached by Bruce Winter.

Jack Oatey Medal

The Jack Oatey Medal for best player in the Grand Final was awarded to Darryl Wakelin of Port Adelaide.

External links

* [http://www.portmagpies.com.au/ Port Adelaide Magpies Official Website]
* [http://www.wwtfc.com.au/ Eagles Official Website]
* [http://www.sanfl.com.au/ SANFL Official Website]

References