Five things we learnt from SANFL Round 16: Bloods vow to bounce back from Richmond nightmare
West Adelaide coach Brad Gotch has said his side will rebound after Saturday’s nightmare against Sturt at Richmond Oval. FIVE THINGS WE LEARNED FROM ROUND 16 HERE
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A SHATTERED West Adelaide has vowed to “stick together’’ after recording the lowest SANFL score in 112 years on Saturday.
The Bloods’ 0.6 in a 76-point loss to Sturt at Richmond Oval was the lowest score since Norwood mustered only five points against Port Adelaide in 1909.
The shocking loss against a side sitting outside the top five was described by experienced and highly-respected coach Brad Gotch as a “kick in the backside for the club”.
“It’s pretty disheartening,” said Gotch, who is in his first year at West after replacing Gavin Colville.
“I’m a pretty positive sort of coach, I try to stay upbeat, but I’m a bit lost for words about this.
“I’ve never been involved in a game where we haven’t kicked a goal, in my coaching (career). That’s 400 games. I’ve never seen anything like that.
“In the end they were playing with us.”
The Bloods kicked one behind in each of the first three quarters before doubling their score in the final term with three.
Hugh Haysman and Joel Stevens were their leading scorers with two behinds each while captain Tom Keough kicked one and one was rushed.
Haysman had the chance to register his side’s only goal right at the death but his shot sailed wide.
While the ground was muddy, conditions were sunny and dry and Sturt had 27 scoring shots, booting 11.16.
The shattering defeat left 2-13 West, which won the premiership six years ago, stuck on the bottom of the ladder and in line for its third consecutive wooden spoon.
Veteran midfielder Kaine Stevens, who was the Bloods’ top disposal winner with 31, said it was easily the worst defeat of his career and that captain Tom Keough had implored his charges in a tight post-match huddle to “stick together”.
Stevens said that there was a “sad” feeling in the rooms after the game but a steely determination to bounce back.
“The last thing we want to do is go into our shells,” he said.
“But when some of your best players have a bad day, it’s tough.
“We’ve been training really hard but Sturt showed just what a good defensive team they are.’’
West fans were so disappointed with the home performance that its social club emptied out in record time after the game, where Gotch was locked in deep discussions with Keough.
Gotch said Sturt, under the guidance of dual premiership coach Martin Mattner, defended and rebounded on the counter-attack “as good as any team this year”, while the Bloods were hurt by the loss in the first quarter of key defensive rebounder Elliot Dunkin with a knee injury.
“I don’t want to be too negative,” he said.
“We haven’t been as bad as that, apart from perhaps the Eagles game (in round seven) when they got us by about 100 (points), but even then we showed something and kicked seven goals.
“What (Sturt) do well is work hard for each other, to guard space and clog up space to counter from.
“We didn’t help ourselves with some of our skill and decision making. We couldn’t take a mark or win a contest, and they’d mop up off that contest and go whooshkaa on us.”
ROOSTERS’ REVIVAL GATHERS MOMENTUM
LAST year’s beaten grand finalist North Adelaide’s relentless charge up the premiership table has been boosted by the return to fitness of speed machine Billy Hartung.
The former Hawthorn and North Melbourne midfielder made his latest comeback from long term injury in the reserves against Woodville-West Torrens at Prospect Oval on Saturday and shone with 26 disposals, seven tackles, five clearances and a goal.
Coach Jacob Surjan resisted the temptation to bring Hartung straight back into the league side, despite strong training form following his latest hamstring setback, because he wanted him to get some match fitness after two injury-ravaged years at Prospect.
Now, with the Roosters having won seven of their past eight games to storm into the top three following a come-from-behind win against the team that beat them in last year's grand final, they have the luxury of calling on a player would had some speed and excitement to their blue-collar on-ball brigade.
Reliable defender Tanner Smith is also ready for a league recall after returning from a calf injury in the reserves.
“There was a strong temptation to bring Billy straight back in (to the league side) because he's Billy Hartung, he’s played 80-odd AFL games,’’ Surjan said.
“But we wanted to do the right thing by Billy and bring him back conservatively because he hasn’t played footy since early in the season.
“He is super talented but we need him to get some consistency of play in his game. He got through really well and is flying fit on the track, so fingers crossed he can stay sound because both him and Tanner will provide a lot to our group and are going to give us some serious selection pressure in the next week or two.’’
North has come from the clouds to sit in third spot with three minor round series to play.
It can go a long way towards grabbing a precious double chance in the finals when it plays fourth-placed South Adelaide at Noarlunga on Saturday.
“We are playing life and death footy every week just to make the finals and the double chance would be an absolute bonus,’’ Surjan said.
“Beating South at Panther Park is a tough task but our boys just keep fighting and are showing great character.
“We know we just have to keep backing it up week after week.’’
WORK TO DO FOR MINOR PREMIER
THERE will be no experiments, no deviation for Glenelg despite the come-from-behind win against Norwood on Saturday that clinched the minor premiership.
While there are still three rounds remaining, the Tigers cannot lose top spot and that provides a luxury of some certainties heading into the finals.
But the performance against the Redlegs, described by coach Brett Hand as “mostly terrible’’, will prevent any changes to the program.
“As we saw today, we were not good,” Hand said after his side fought back from 17 points behind at three-quarter time to win by 10 points.
“We are a long way from playing our best footy, there are a lot of things to work on.
“We don’t want to win like that. We don’t need the players to think we can get out of trouble all the time.
“The last quarters are good, but I’ll have a heart attack if we keep doing this.”
The Redlegs, meanwhile, are optimistic Hawthorn premiership star Paul Puopolo won’t be lost for the season after he was carried from the field early in the second quarter.
The high-flying entertainer has a knee issue, just how severe is the question.
Norwood coach Jade Rawlings had every right to be frustrated after the tough defeat.
In round nine, his side coughed up a 47-point lead to lose to the Tigers by one point and on Saturday they dominated for three quarters, only to waste opportunity after opportunity in front of goal, kicking a woeful 8.17.
CROW ROWE SHINES IN NEW MIDFIELD ROLE
WHEN Luke Pedlar limped off Adelaide Oval with an ankle injury late in the opening quarter of Saturday’s SANFL Showdown against Port Adelaide, the Crows, already weakened by the late withdrawal of Matt Crouch (groin), needed somebody to step up and fill the midfield void.
Enter James Rowe.
Axed from Adelaide’s struggling AFL side following an underwhelming past month and relegated to the SANFL for the first time since playing in Woodville-West Torrens’ 2020 grand final triumph, Rowe’s response was resounding.
Answering his team’s call – and bouncing back to form personally – Rowe split his customary small forward commission with some rare midfield minutes to chalk up 25 possessions, his best haul since his eye-catching 27-disposal debut in 2018.
The reigning Ken Farmer Medallist also slotted two second-half majors, the last one sealing victory.
“When we lost Pedlar early we needed to find another midfielder and obviously Jimmy can do that,” Crows coach Michael Godden said.
“Sometimes as a small forward it can be really difficult. We used him up the field and he finished with a couple of goals and a few clearances.
“He’s certainly an accomplished midfielder at SANFL level. It’s good for him to get his hands on the footy and get some confidence into his game.”
Godden was no less pleased with the similarly versatile Billy Frampton, who proved his defensive masterclass against North Adelaide in Round 15 was no fluke.
“Big Billy’’ produced near-identical numbers against the Magpies, amassing 30 touches, 13 marks (five contested) and 11 rebound-50s to be best-afield in the Crows’ surprise 13-point win.
Frampton has undoubtedly fallen behind Riley Thilthorpe, Darcy Fogarty and Elliott Himmelberg in Adelaide’s key forward pecking order and has endured difficulties reproducing his impressive SANFL goalscoring feats at AFL level where his radar has been askew.
But he may have revived his chequered career by finding a fortuitous niche down back.
“It’s not always easy to go from one end to the other but sometimes you find a new avenue and it’s something you didn’t know before,” Godden said.
“His couple of games he’s played back there at SANFL level have been really good. He’s taking contested marks and he’s a good user of the ball. It’s certainly something we’ll persist with.”
HORNE STEALS THE SHOW AT ELIZABETH
NUMBER one AFL draft contender Jason Horne stole the show for South Adelaide in its 52-point win against Central District at Elizabeth Oval on Saturday.
The 18-year-old racked up 22 disposals and kicked three goals, all of which came in a dynamic second quarter burst.
It was an impressive display which helped strengthen his claims to be the top pick in this
year’s draft.
“He is a special player. That was certainly his best game at league level,” Panthers coach Jarrad Wright said.
Trailing at quarter-time, Horne sparked South into life in the second term, showing his full bag of tricks to put his team in control, capped by a long-range bomb just before half-time.
“He was really dynamic and really strong around the contest, especially in that second quarter,” Wright said.
“There’s a lot of grunt and defence as well. His strength is his defence and he does that really well, those defensive pressure acts and chase downs.’’
With the Panthers extensive injury list prior to the Covid enforced break, Horne was forced to play a variety of positions, including half-back in South’s defeat to Sturt at Unley.
But Wright said he would look to settle Horne into the team’s midfield rotations for the rest of the season.
“Jason has the ability to play anywhere in our structure and that’s the luxury that we have with him,” he said
“We will probably look to keep him in that midfield/half-forward role but he is very versatile.”
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