On their home ground at Laura the Tigers outscored the reigning premiers in three of the four quarters, but failed to win the match due to little else than a lack of experience under pressure.

Conditions for the match were pretty ordinary with light showers and gusty winds causing handling errors and turnovers galore.

The goal of the day was the opening one and it came off the boot of a magical Matt Woolford.

He took on the Roo back line with a bit of fancy footwork and made enough ground to score effortlessly in the end.

Brett Ballantyne took a great mark at the eight-minute mark and converted it to put Southern Flinders up two goals to zip and there was just a hint of concern in the Roo camp.

Right up until a piece of brilliance from Kirwen Moore put Orroroo on the board about mid term.

Moore’s pure skill allowed him enough time to pick out full forward Damian Ellery who converted a strong mark.

Two minutes later big John McKenna toe-poked the Tigers third major score and they went to the break leading 3.3 to 2.5.

The second term was like a game of hide and seek with the Sherrin.

It went from end to end either through the centre corridor or along the wings and most players got a touch here and there until mercifully the half time siren woke everyone up.

The third term was a ripper from Orroroo who peppered the goals to score 3.8 to Southern Flinders 2.4 giving the Roos a slender five-point lead at lemon time.

However, the black and gold’s were soon leading by eight points late in the last quarter and they looked the goods. But two goals to Orroroo when they caught the Tiger defence napping on both occasions was all it took to surge over the line and take the points.

Best players for Orroroo were Matthew Dignan, who started at centre half back, but went onto the ball in the second half, skipper Will Bennett was dynamite in the pivot, Carl Blackwell with two goals from half forward, rover Brodie O’Dea did some excellent things in cahoots with ruckman Luke Ellery who made the list as did his brother Damian with three goals from full forward.

For Southern Flinders it began with skipper Scott Brand who was very good from centre half forward and around the ball, Nathan Cunningham seemed to relish his time up forward while teen gun Matt Woolford starred on the ball and kicked a couple of nice goals into the bargain. Centreman Garry Hull saw plenty of it and also kicked a couple while flashy half forward Brett Ballantyne top-scored with three goals.

– Scoreboard, Page 49