Congratulations to Norwood in a very hard fought game. Although I am a Panthers fan I thought Norwood fought very hard to come back in the last quarter and wish them well for next week.

To South....many thought you wouldn't travel very far through the finals and you showed how much heart you have!!! A very big thank you must go to the Panthers Army for your support throughout the finals series. We are all looking forward to an awesome season next year. Hold your heads high...we are all very proud!

What a game! The score doesn't do the game justice. Well done you pather boys. Over 3/4 of a stadium filled with panther supports stood to cheer your determination and passion. A great fight til the end. Well done also to the panther army.
We will be there again in 2009 so watch out you flames..............

Yeah it was a great game besides the ridiculous amount of foul shots (58 to norwood, 45 to south) which stopped the flow of the game.

South had control for most of the game and then had that ten point lead going into the final quarter and then Norwood took momentum with a half court trap which killed the lead within 4 minutes.

I don't want to be too critical of the South Coach as he has done a remarkable job with the talent he has but going into the final quarter he rested Thomas Mckenzie and Luke Frost. Both those guys should have been out there to start the quarter! Then as soon as Norwood get back in the game they get subbed on. Furthermore, Pilkington had limited minutes in the last quarter. They even took Mckenzie of in the last quarter again this time for Jeremy Read, whom came on and gave away a 3 point play straight away. I'm not sure why these players were rested so much, it couldn't be a fitness reason!

South just fell apart in that last quarter and you could tell that they had no confidence going into over time.

McKenzie needs to take driving to the basket lessons from Frost and Fuller! He would be NBL material if he had the same drive as those guys.

Cooper and Krause should be more of an offensive threat considering how big they are. I can't believe Cooper can't dominate out there when guys are 4-6inches shorter then him.

I think Eagles will win it as long as they can contain Thompson.

The spirit of Matt Jones was strong in this game! LOL

Are the SportingPulse stats correct, showing Norwood made only 28 of 58 free throws? And South something similar?

Well done flames tough fought game.

I sincerely hope neither of those two umpires get a gig next week.....Poor effort!

I think North may have said the same thing about one of those refs that did theirs the week before, he still stunk last night.
Surely there is someone better around.

Eagles VS Flames Eagles win .yes

The stats are correct. Both sides were culprits of poor free throw shooting.

Clearly late?? I thought it was clearly the correct call and i'm sure did 95% of the stadium.

The umpiring standard all year, and especially in the finals has shown why this league is taken as a joke by the rest of the country.

I wonder if any of the umpires ever study game tape to see the calls they are missing/making.

Yeah the shot had defintely left his hands before the siren went off. Around 0.4 seconds when it left his hands. If anyone has game footage I would put money on it!

Melbourne beat Sandringham in game 1 of the Big V conference. Corletto had 40 points.
Tigers get Daniel Johnson back from a broken hand for next week's game 2 (and 3 if required).
They will really shake the National Championships.

winner gets home quarter final against big V wildcard...loser plays away against the Bib V champ!

Big V Wildcard is likly to be Sandringham. I can't see them beating Melbourne in both games 2 & 3

Totally agree with you Panther! The shot imo was defintely taken after but in fact was the time keeper who made the blunder. Mind you time keeping is in no way an easy job especially in a game like that with that amount of pressure.

For those who didnt see the game but were wondering why many are bagging the refs the foul count was as follows:

Norwood - 32
South - 38
(stats courtesy of sportingpulse)

A massive 70 fouls were called!

Doug Hudson was the only player to not be whistled for a foul and he played 5:05 minutes!

Webber was bleeding from his knee in the last couple minutes of OT. The panther supporters were yelling at the refs to take notice, but one of the umpires just smirked and let him play on.

Man, I don't think the refs can ever win! If they let the game flow more, they would be crucified for letting it get too rough and dirty (and probably lead to a few ejections like what happened in the North/Norwood game). But then if they call it tight and ensure they have the game under control, then they get bagged too. Make up your mind - you can't have it both ways. Unless you've ever reffed, (and especially a tough final like that with only two officials, as it would normally be better to have three), then you can't really comment. I would be interested to hear what some of the players thought... With the foul count fairly even on both sides, I don't think they'd complain too much as it appears that it was at least consistent.

http://www.hoops.com.au/sa/i.cfm/forumlist/16460/

Just goes to show that referee's can't win!!! Let them play, people bitch... call lots of fouls, people bitch!!!

Good luck to the 4 referees this weekend!!!