Reigning premier Sturt had to withstand a Central District onslaught to come away with victory
STURT steadied with six goals to two in the last quarter to hold off a determined but inconsistent Central District.
REIGNING premier Sturt received a scare but steadied when it counted to beat Central District by 31 points at Unley Oval on Saturday.
The Double Blues looked to have the game under control when they led by six goals at half-time and were forcing then capitalising on turnovers.
But the Bulldogs fought back, sparked by maligned forward John Butcher (five goals), an increased thirst for the contest and making fewer mistakes in possession.
Central closed to within three points by the final break and gave itself a sniff of pulling off an upset for the second week in succession following its win over Port Adelaide.
Sturt responded early in the last term via a Kory Beard long-bomb and a major to skipper Zane Kirkwood and then sealed the hard-fought victory when Steven Slimming slotted his second.
Double Blues coach Marty Mattner was pleased with the performance, which came without injured Aidan Riley, Byron Sumner (virus) and Patrick Wilson (food poisoning).
“The third quarter we fell away just with some basic stuff, stuff we pride ourselves on like killing the contest, bringing the ball forward and those sorts of things, which was a bit disappointing,” Mattner said.
“I didn’t feel at any stage, they were going to win, it just felt like we let them back in a bit.
“But the last quarter I was very impressed with and very happy with the win in the end.”
In Riley’s absence, James Battersby had another monster game in the middle, racking up a game-high 31 disposals, 14 tackles and seven inside 50s.
“He took it to a new level today,” Mattner said.
Off-season recruit Jake Sutcliffe provided a handy foil for Beard (three goals), booting a team-high four majors.
“He just brings something different to the team,” Mattner said.
“We’re pretty happy with our forward line, how it structures up and that we’re not reliant on one person to kick a bag each week.”
Bulldogs coach Roy Laird had mixed feelings about his team’s display.
He said there was some very good moments, particularly in the third term, but inconsistency within games and coughing up cheap goals continued to hurt his side.
“There was a lot of scoreboard pressure at half-time as a result of a lack of concentration and some errors but the third quarter was good and our intensity was good,” Laird said.
“But the first quarter was poor and over the course of the game we probably had five or six passengers who couldn’t contribute.”
Laird praised the efforts of Nick Holman (26 disposals) and Butcher, who took a huge mark in the second term and kicked a nice left-foot snap in the third.
STURT 4.4 11.7 13.9 19.13 (127)
CENTRAL DISTRICT 2.5 5.7 12.11 14.12 (96)
BEST - Sturt: Battersby, McMahon, Slimming, Kirkwood, Sutcliffe, Hone, Thiele.
Central: Holman, Butcher, Hayden, Glenn, J. Schiller, T. Schiller.
GOALS - Sturt: Sutcliffe 4, Beard 3, Battersby, Hansen, Kirkwood, Slimming 2; Crocker, Dodd, Hone, Osborn.
Central: Butcher 5, Glenn, McKenzie, Presbury 2; Barmby, T. Schiller, Jenner.
INJURIES - Sturt: Osborn (corked thigh)
UMPIRES - Schramm, Sobieraj, Hosking.