Glenelg’s credentials rise another notch with a win over Sturt in SANFL

Glenelg has emerged as a disciplined, highly competitive unit under coach Mark Stone and there is now more reason for Tigers’ fans to dream.

Glenelg gave its long suffering supporters more ammunition to dream big this season after a tense nine-point triumph over Sturt at the Bay on Friday.
This was a victory not confirmed until Luke Reynolds nailed a goal late in the fourth quarter after the Double Blues had produced a desperate charge.

But it was a win of substance which will fuel belief the Tigers can mount a serious threat.

“It was a real challenge all night,” Tigers coach Mark Stone said. “We talked pre-game about beating them here last year when there wasn’t much on the line.

“They couldn’t go out of the finals and we couldn’t get in. There was a fair bit more on the line today, one (win) and three (losses) is very foreign to them and they are not going to hand that up.

“We talked about how much they are going to come at us, how resilient they are going to be and it was going to be a dog fight until the end.

“It could have gone either way and in the end I thought our guys were pretty gutsy to fight it out.”

It was a turnover feast in the scrappy opening quarter with both sides guilty of coughing up possession with sloppy skills and poor decision making.

There was a commitment to the defensive acts, but too many turnovers were often under little pressure.

The trend extended into the opening minutes of the second term when some of the work was made more difficult than necessary.

While the Tigers had more trips inside their attacking 50, they squandered scoring opportunities with poor delivery to the forwards.

Sturt's Zane Kirkwood tries to get the ball to Byron Sumner, while being tackled by Glenelg's Luke Partington. Picture Dean Martin

Double Blues defenders Jack Stephens, Fraser Evans and Hugo Munn were able to constantly mop up and spark attacking raids.

Midway through the second quarter, the visitors slipped away to a 23-point lead on the back of a Tom Condon goal. But it was the desperate pursuit and pressure of key forward Jake Sutcliffe which created the opportunity.

Needing a response, Jesse White and Marlon Motlop nailed goals within a minute as the quality of the contest lifted a notch.

The role of Tigers captain Chris Curran with his intercept marking took on more significance as the second quarter lengthened, while he got support from Andrew Bradley and Brad Agnew.

Neither side could secure the momentum and while the intensity rose, goals became scarce. That was until late in the term third term when Tigers forward Lachlan Hosie bagged two goals in quick succession.

Tigers speedster Motlop then repeated his effort midway through the second term when he pocketed possession at the restart in the centre to charge forward and nail the goal.

However, the Double Blues refused to wilt and they kept coming at the Tigers in a frenetic final quarter.

SCOREBOARD

GLENELG 2.4 6.5 10.9 11.13 (79)

STURT 4.2 7.3 8.5 10.10 (70)

BEST - Glenelg: Curran, Hosie, Partington, Betterman, Bradley, Agnew. Sturt: Kirkwood, Colquhoun, Stephens, F. Evans, Battersby, Coombe.

INJURIES - Glenelg: Joseph (hamstring).

GOALS - Glenelg: Hosie 4, Motlop 2, McBean, Scharenberg, Reynolds, McCarthy, White. Sturt: M. Evans 3, Condon 2, Sutcliffe, Dodd, Slimming, Riley, Pearce.

UMPIRES - Bryce, Schramm, Hundertmark.

CROWD - 4248 at ACH Group Stadium, Glenelg.