My Two Cents: It’s the master versus apprentice in SANFL Grand Final

Dual Sturt premiership coach Martin Mattner will lock horns with first-year Glenelg mentor Darren Reeves in the SANFL grand final, the pair taking vastly different paths.

A three-year rebuild versus a nine-month renovation project.

That is the contrasting styles of this year’s SANFL grand final coaches, Sturt’s Martin Mattner and Glenelg’s Darren Reeves.

When Double Blues and Sydney premiership player Mattner returned to Unley for his second stint as coach at the end of 2020, the club had endured a couple of average seasons, finishing fifth and sixth under Nathan Grima.

Mattner, who had left his role as an AFL assistant coach with Adelaide midway through 2020 after being a victim of Covid financial cuts, was charged with turning the proud club into a powerhouse again.

In his first coaching sojourn at Sturt, he famously led it to premierships in his first two years in charge in 2016 and 2017 and fourth in 2018 before his standout coaching CV saw him lured to the AFL.

Mattner, who studied carpentry while he was playing, went “back on the tools’’, working for a mate’s company, Response Carpentry Constructions, in his five months out of the game before being handed the keys to the Double Blues machine for the second time.

He decided to build the squad from the ground up again after a host of his premiership players had departed.

Glenelg coach Darren Reeves (left) and Sturt coach Martin Mattner eye off the Thomas Seymour Hill premiership cup which is up for grabs at Sunday’s SANFL grand final. Picture: David Mariuz/SANFL

“Three years ago when I came back we hadn’t been playing finals and stuff and I was chatting to ‘Batts’ and ‘Pagey’ (dual premiership players James Battersby and Guy Page) and a couple of other guys who had been around for a while and they wanted to win another premiership before retiring,’’ Mattner said.

“I said, ‘let’s do it’, but the way to go about it was to rebuild our list, with our junior players, and go down the path of building a group of players who were going to be our next premiership players.

“They included players like (Josh) Shute, (Casey) Voss, (Will) Coomblas, (Lachlan) Burrows, (Oliver) Grivell, (Tom) Lewis, just give them games of footy and get experience into them.

“That’s paying dividends now and it will into the future.’’

Sturt finished sixth in Mattner’s return year in 2021, fifth last year and second at the end of this year’s minor round.

It lost the qualifying final to Adelaide after leading by 35 points in the second quarter but rebounded strongly to beat Central District in the first semi-final and then turned the tables on the Crows in the preliminary final to earn a grand final spot for the first time since its 2017 premiership.

Remarkably, all four of the Double Blues’ male teams – league, reserves, under-18s and under-16s – have made grand finals this year, although their two under-age sides lost their premiership deciders on Sunday.

Sturt coach Martin Mattner addresses his charges during the preliminary final win against Adelaide at Adelaide Oval. Picture: David Mariuz/SANFL

“That says a lot about where the club is at,’’ Mattner said.

“Our under-16s and 18s didn’t get the chocolates but in terms of our junior programs and building our club, that’s what we want, we want our juniors developing and coming through.

“We saw that with our league team in the preliminary final, a lot of the kids that have come through our system played – (Luke) Edmonds, (Ned) Walter, (Charlie) Fryer, (Rory) Illman – they’ve all played juniors here and it shows we are building for success long term.

“The older guys will always be there, playing well, but on the weekend some of our younger players really stood up – Walter played an amazing game, Fryer, Coomblas, Lewis, that whole group. They have all come through our junior program.’’

On Sunday, Sturt is expected to field only five premiership players – captain Battersby, Page and Josh Hone, who won flags in 2016 and 2017, and Henry Carey (2016) and Steven Slimming (2017).

While Mattner played the long game in rebuilding the Blues, Reeves has – in tough circumstances – masterfully overseen a quick fix.

The man with a cricket background wasn’t appointed Glenelg coach until late December last year after the club parted ways with Brett Hand over irreconcilable differences.

Reeves, who was an assistant to North Adelaide coach Jacob Surjan when the Roosters made the grand final last year, did not see the need (or have time) to rebuild the list after the Tigers had played in the 2021 grand final, but he flipped the game plan on its head.

Glenelg coach Darren Reeves at the Bay Oval. Picture: Matt Loxton

“First and foremost we needed to improve defensively,’’ he said.

“Early in the year we had a focus on how we wanted to defend the ground and I wasn’t sure that it was going to happen as quickly as it did.

“But by around Round 6 or 7 we were able to get that on track and it definitely made a difference to how we played in offence as well.’’

The numbers are eye-popping.

Last year, Glenelg, which finished fourth, ranked No. 3 in scores for (average 74 points) but equal-sixth in scores against (70).

This year, led by its trio of star goalkickers Lachie Hosie, Liam McBean and Luke Reynolds, it was second in scoring (84.6) behind Adelaide and skyrocketed to No. 1 defensively, conceding an average of only 58.2 points.

“Everyone has really bought in and been really strong from a defensive standpoint,’’ Reeves said.

Asked whether he had to pinch himself to comprehend his journey with the Tigers this year after once being a wannabe Test cricket wicketkeeper who spent a year at the Australian Cricket Academy in Adelaide in 1997, Reeves, a New South Welshman, said: “Every day’’.

“But full credit must go to the players,’’ he said.

“Along with the assistant coaches, we came in with a plan of what we wanted to do and the players have taken ownership and driven it every day.’’

NUMBERS GAME

14

Game-high tackles for Sturt’s Tom Lewis against Adelaide in the SANFL preliminary final.

300

Senior games for just-retired Adelaide SANFL captain Matthew Wright – 141 in the SANFL for the Crows and North Adelaide and 159 in the AFL for Adelaide and Carlton.

QUOTES OF THE WEEK

“I’m not worried about what that scrutiny sounds and looks like, but I get that it will come, I can't avoid that. I will handle it, it’s okay.’’

– Port Adelaide coach Ken Hinkley after the club’s straight-sets finals exit.

“It has been probably my worst season at AFL level and certainly has been challenging both mentally and physically week-in, week-out.’’

– Port Adelaide vice-captain Ollie Wines.